SUBLIFE

I have been aware of John Pham's work for a while now, but I must admit that he was never a cartoonist who's work set me on fire. That is to say, until I read the first two issues of his Sublife, published by Fantagraphics. The first issue of this series truly blew me away. Some of the work, as far as I know, has been previously released in serialized form in MOME(also put out by Fantagraphics)but most of the work was new to me.
His art is deceptively simple, with a slight line with no real weight variance, and a very muted color pallet. The art mirrors the storytelling, which has no real exposition, and develops quietly and subtly.
The 2nd issue strays from some of the longer narratives set up in issue #1, and even tries new ground artistically, with a story, which as far as I can tell, is about the film character Mad Max, and is drawn in loose pencils with no inks.
The covers for both issues so far have been some of the best I've ever seen, even rivaling Chris Ware in quality of design. Well worth the $7.95 price tag.