The Gloriously Untrue Adventures Of Sapphira #2 Review - Surreal Chaos Done Right

How about a return to ethereal, surrealist storytelling with a bit less space but 1000% more pastry cat, via revealing forms and pop culture references and a new slant on the chicken vs egg dibacol, oh, and mothers mince pies in eye-catching art? Then grab a new serving of The Gloriously Untrue Adventures Of Sapphira #2 by Sapphira Olson.

Sapphira Olson is an author, artist and poet. Sapphira's novels include The Woman In The Ship, The Girl In The Garden, Stanley Park, Parables and Android Author to name just a few. Sapphira is also, of course, responsible for last year's wonderful first issue of The Gloriously Untrue Adventures Of Sapphira. You can find a review of here. The issue two Kickstarter campaign is currently running and has already smashed its target. For a guaranteed copy, check out the link at the end. Maestro mistress maven re-met let's do the review.

So, let's start with the art. Once again, Sapphira is flaunting the flag of surrealist pop art with strong lines and bold colours to mesmerise and seduce with enchanting art. The heady mix of styles plays beautifully in tangent with the narrative. The result is absorbing art with stunning splashes of "wow" moments. My favourite example has to be the full-page pastry cat on downtown. It just holds and celebrates everything marvellous about this art. The kaleidoscopic mix of styles on offer whisks you along on this second outing. It cements a stylistic quality that is succinctly Sapphira and certainly seductive.

There's a complicated magic quality to this art as well that really captures a dream-like substance that's very enjoyable. It sucks you in. Where it gets its most surreal and abstract, it holds you there to study and find grounding in an unignorable way.

Richard Starkings tops off the art with strong, structured lettering with a professional presentation. Seduction of art delivered how about the story?

Sapphira Olson continues the story of herself, sort of. There's a momentary shift in narration to the space-age Sam of issue one. This switch ends with a fun movie reference before Sapphira re-takes the reins for a detour into baking, the universal break-up hobby. That leads into a small philosophical debate concerning chickens, eggs and Roosters. Then it's the return of the deadly, mischievous Félicette who pairs with new partner in crime, Pastry Cat. An impromptu journey proves everything is bigger in America before the search for Samantha becomes precedent. Thanks to unapproved, flower bestowed space ships, the interstellar journey takes off with new and old friends in tow.

If all this sounds a little disjointed, well, it is. In the same way our dreams unfold, this one unfurls like a rare new flower. Delightfully distracting art keeps it moving along in a linear fashion. There's a further peppering of pop culture references to keep servings of happy nostalgia topped up. This one skips along to the beat of a very unique and distinct tune all of its own.

Where this one is going is beyond speculation. I'm starting to feel like with this one, it's more about the experience than the journey, and why not?

For fans of space break ups, dreamscapes, surrealism, pop culture, the unparalleled over rising of a pastry based feline descending on the "Big Apple" in a way that could rival the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, mince pies, mothers bowl, Stalk or Stork and art that beautifully fills the story with gorgeous colours, set off to Kickstarter for The Gloriously Untrue Adventures Of Sapphira #2.

To get your guaranteed copy, join the host of other backers at the Kickstarter campaign here. Bag yourself some cool rewards while you're there.

Review: 4.9/5