Saw this review recently for The Pogostick in The Sunday Guardian, and thought it'd be fun to post here - Ethan

The Pogostick is a Cult Classic Despite an Unresolved Cliff-Hanger

The Sunday Guardian | BOOK BEAT
July 5, 2015 (Page 26)

Fantagraphics Books
Writer: Al Columbia
Artist: Ethan Persoff

Freudian metaphors and sequences are powerful tools in the hands of contemporary writers. In novels like Portnoy's Complaint we have seen how they can bring out the neurosis of a character in an unusually accurate way; the literal phrase "dream logic" is quite literal in these cases. The graphic novel medium gives artists the license to go a step further and directly include situations that Freud discussed in Interpretation of Dreams. In Al Columbia and Ethan Persoff's The Pogostick, we see the protagonist, a melancholy little man called Audrey Grinfield (the irony of the name becomes obvious fairly early on, when we see that Audrey isn't likely to break into a grin anytime soon) who does what can only be described as grunt work at a design firm that specializes in "nuts, screws, washers, bolts and rivets."

We are told that about a year ago, Grinfield had to choose a night shift at his firm due to a brain freeze moment where he walked through the office with his penis exposed, not realizing that he forgot to zip up his pants in the toilet. This, then, forms the crux of The Pogostick: It is the nucleus of Grinfield's mousy, clean-freak, deeply insecure behavior tics. The sequence, aided by Persoff's cartoonish grotesque art, becomes a Freudian therapy session by proxy. Grinfield undergoes what Freud calls "The Embarrassment-Dream of Nakedness", only in real life.

Freud writes, in the Interpretation of Dreams: "The dreamer's embarrassment and the spectator's indifference constitute a contradiction such as often occur in dreams. It would be more in keeping with the dreamer's feelings if the strangers were to look at him in astonishment, or were to laugh at him, or be outraged. I think, however, that this obnoxious feature has been displaced by wish-fulfillment, while the embarrassment is for some reason retained, so that the two components are not in agreement."

Hence, when Columbia tells us "He walked through all of Moggs before he noticed his mistake", he is suggesting that because of Grinfield's already fragile mental health, he experienced the early part of his episode in a dream-like state, where his "wish-fulfillment" part of his brain switched off a reality that hit home later, with devastating consequences: people were looking and some of them were disgusted enough to lodge a complaint.

Columbia is better known for his artwork (The Biologic Show, Pim and Francie) but here, his writing is in near peak form, perhaps from the reduced workload. The Pogostick was cancelled (abandoned/halted) after two issues, leaving the series on a bit of a cliff-hanger. The slight blemish aside, it is a compelling read, one that might even cause you to re-evaluate your priorities in life.

— The Sunday Guardian | July 5, 2015, Page 26

Thanks for the satisfying review.

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Another item worth sharing - Never heard the term "Applied Comics" for educational comics - but I like it.

Review: "Comics with Problems"
Source: Applied Comics Network

I’ve recently been directed to Ethan Persoff’s fantastic archive of weird and off-the-wall informational comics, or Comics With Problems, as he puts it.

These are applied comics definitely from the weirder end of the spectrum: from government-sponsored oddities (Military Courtesy – a comic book all about how to salute properly), and classics (Will Eisner’s Treat Your Rifle Like a Lady), to well-known characters in public service publications (Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids in anti-drug Buzzy’s Rebound) or slightly obscure educational comics (Learn Cherokee with Blondie and Dagwood); to curiosities like a 1987 AIDS awareness comic sponsored by Madonna (Who’s That Girl?) and unusual mascots such as Pip, the Magic Safety Elephant (The Perils of PIP – Preventing Poisoning); all the way to the outer fringes of weirdness (Capn Veedee-O and Ms.Wanda Lust in VD Claptrap, or Daffy Qaddafi: A Dictator’s Nightmare in Wonderland, or Don’t Bruise that Pig), hysteria (America Under Socialism, and The Two Faces of Communism), and offensiveness (the pro-segregation comic George Wallace for the Big Job, or the bile-filled Homosexuality: Legitimate Alternative DEATHSTYLE).

Stranger danger, anti-fluoridation, temper tantrums, body odour, Mickey Mouse selling speed, family stress, Foreskin Man, heroin abuse, landmine awareness, the Phantom running for city council, group poop, dancing condoms – and Sam the Disaster Horse talking about terrorism awareness. Hats off to Ethan Persoff: this is a crazy archive of crazy comics. Explore at your leisure – and enjoy. If nothing else, perhaps learn some lessons about how not to make applied comics.

— Applied Comics Network | July 10, 2015 (online)

Thanks for the nice comments about the site.

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Welcome to this site. Featured work:

Teddy and RADIO WIRE
Love stories (see also)

LIVE AT HARRY'S LOFT
Music, Now available in the U.S.

JOHN WILCOCK: New York Years
By Ethan Persoff and Scott Marshall

1957 atomic revolution comic book
Lucky find