Twisting And Turning Through Life- Reviewing ‘Minor Arcana’ #3

Life, or perhaps the universe at large, provides a seemingly infinite number of paths which could be taken any time. Some are major, some are minor, and some are detours that take us in circles.

In some cases we have full control of the paths we take, other times outside circumstances will push us to paths we might not otherwise have chosen for good or for ill. Theresa St. Pierre has seemingly come back to Limberlost for a reason, and she begins to piece that purpose together in Minor Arcana #3.

A heavily character and purpose focused issue comes from Jeff Lemire and Steve Wands.

Unfortunately, because of a confluence of life events, I missed out on reviewing the second issue. There was no way I was going to miss out on this one because it just hit really darn hard.

In just this one issue, Lemire almost perfectly captures the feeling that comes from feeling completely lost in life and uncertain about how to proceed, wrapped up in the past and the present, wondering about the choices made and whether the right path was taken. While Theresa’s story is very much her own, it has elements that are fully relatable for the vast majority of people in the world.

Being stuck in thoughts of the past and uncertain of where you need to be is a feeling that dominated most of my early 20s and then a portion of my 30s as well. I wandered through life, with my depression and anxiety running wild, losing relationships and feeling cut off from the support and love I craved. My dreams of being a teacher were long left in the dust and the current path of becoming a journalist was full of roadblocks. Even the nerdy hobby-focused website I created to do things like write reviews and news pieces as my own boss fell off a cliff when it became far too much for one person to handle.

I say all this to say how much this issue really resonated with me as I flipped through the pages.

Lemire’s art style plays deeply into these feelings and elements, with the rougher textures and sharper angles that take up so much of it. Watercolor-like brush strokes of color feel faded and ominous at the same time, giving power to the feeling of a simple town and a somewhat colorless feeling existence at time. Giving everything a very natural and toned-down quality, with certain elements leaning into the darker or more vibrant at times.

There isn’t any of the supernatural or other elements happening in this issue, because it’s character focused. This changes nothing about how vast the artwork goes to really hammer home every single thing it’s meant to. Whimsical as much as it is rough, it gives everything this aged lived in sort of feeling that is kind of hard to describe. Yet, when it’s there you can definitely point a finger right at it with resounding confidence.

Similarly, the way that Wands weaves the various words and other lettering elements into the page carries similar energies. All the aforementioned emotional beats are conveyed through the artwork but carried even further with the dialogue choices. Words are presented in a flowing way with little flares here or there to really allow the emotions and personality to rise up with each utterance. Volume, tone, and meaning are clear as day and allow there to be even more weight and depth to everything the characters are saying alongside their actions.

Minor Arcana #3 is now available from BOOM! Studios.