Another Review

Google Alerts aren't perfect. They miss things all the time.

So when I vanity search, I use a different search engine. One that turns up things like your last six addresses, any Facebook accounts, that MySpace account you opened and abandoned and didn't use your last name on, and even your amazon wishlist. Eww, creepy.

I don't do this very often. Not because I'm going to pretend to be too good for vanity searching, but because it's a pain. I've worked on thousands of comic books over the years, and they've all been reviewed a dozen times each, complete with credits.

But when I am procrastinating take the time to look, sometimes it turns up something good.

Like this: A review of Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik, posted in June on a Washington state journalism site.

Kate Skinner, the reviewer, kindly lumped my book in with some real heavy hitters. And it's a sign of the times that I was a "graphic novel colorist" rather than a "comic book colorist." Graphic novels have been talked about a lot in book circles for a few years. I'm not as sure as she was that I was anticipating the blog culture, but I'll take what I can get.

The 2001 journey is thoroughly contemporary, anticipating the blog culture driven as it was by sponsorship and a website. This book is about the African leg of that journey. While there is a fair representation of the everyday lot of local people — dust, waiting, delays, more waiting, climbing into and out of local transport, and more waiting — Javins also writes with candor about relationships on the road and the personal tension between relationships and solitude which drives her wandering and explorations.