A Strange Day

A collaboration between Damon Hurd (My Uncle Jeff, A Sort of Homecoming) and Tatiana Gill. Skipping school to buy the latest Cure album, Miles arrives at the deserted Media Play parking lot waiting for the store to open. Here he meets Anna, who skipped her own classes with the same agenda. A free spirit, Anna takes it upon herself to bring introverted Miles out of his black-clad shell. An original comic about alienation, kindred spirits, and two Cure-heads' serendipitous friendship, and the lessons they learn from each other.

"Hurd, lucky in his artist collaborators (see The White Elephant, 2004, drawn by Christopher Steininger), offers a teenage love story he wants the reader to approach as "the sixteen year old that fell in love at first sight." Miles meets Anna when both skip school to get the new Cure CD and arrive at the music store before it opens. They kill time with the morning mall-walkers and return to find that the CD won't go on sale 'til afternoon. They get something to eat and drive to his special place and then to hers. Meanwhile, they've talked, shared intimacies, and kissed. He's revealed his loneliness, and she her impulsiveness, especially in her last action before the story ends. Will they see more of one another? The attitude Hurd wants us to take implies they will. Gill commands a thick, active line, varies distance more than angle of perspective, crops effectively, and never distracts with too much background detail. A sweet, lovely, utterly credible slice-of-teen-life." -- Ray Olson, Booklist (Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved)

52 page black and white paperback with color covers
Alternative Comics, 2005