Book Review: Goes Like This by J. Crane

Fantagraphics has published Goes Like This by Jordan Crane. It is a splendid artistic compilation for adults and older teens that contains 12 short stories, nearly 50 one- and two-page prints that often feel like micro-stories in their own right, and contains all of Crane’s self-published works from zines and anthologies covering the last 25 years.

The short stories wend their way from romance to doomed love to science fiction. There is even a weird western called “The Hand of Gold.” In it, a cowboy finds a dead horse and dead rider at the bottom of a ravine. The dead rider has a briefcase chained to his wrist that is unnaturally heavy. The cowboy wants that briefcase, but something spookily supernatural doesn’t want him to take it.

“Below the Shade of Night” is a heartbreaking story of a teenager longing for escape from a sad home life. His dream is to drive his motorcycle off into the night and away from it all but misfortune awaits around the corner. The next story is filled with arguing and sadness as an unhappy family disagrees on almost every little thing the grandfather tries to do to bring them together. It could leave you sullen and morose, but check out the brilliant title: “Before They Got Better.”

We get to follow Leo and Dee through two short stories: “Vicissitude” and “Trash Night.” These are stories about love on the rocks and how a vicious raccoon can bring lovers back together. “The Dark Nothing” is a scary story in deep space where an asteroid-mining mission goes terribly wrong. In “The Middle Nowhere” there is a highly entertaining Octomaid (octopus mermaid) that is so wonderfully told and drawn that it, alone, is worth the price of the book.

Scattered throughout all these engrossing stories are the stunning prints. A tire, in flames, soars through the sky with no indication of where it came from. A woman rides her bike no-handed because she is engrossed in reading a magazine. A man turns into a puddle of too many legs and too many arms. And there are so many more. 

Goes Like This, by Jordan Crane, is an astonishingly beautiful book with varying paper stocks and an enigmatic, but dazzling, exposed spine. The overall production value is off the charts with crisp colors and sharp blacks and whites. Goes Like This is one of those rare books you’d be willing to defile: take some scissors and glue and cover your walls in its glory.