Conversation #1 and Conversation #2, by James Kochalka

Conversation #1 and Conversation #2 are two short comic books that discuss the philosophy of art, what it means to live and whether creating art is necessary for life to be worth living.

The style of each book is that James Kochalka, creator of American Elf, personal favorite comic, collaborates with one other comic artist. They write the dialog and guide the direction of the art together, and interfere with each other so that both the dialog and the art are a conversation of styles and philosophies. In the first book, Kochalka collaborates with Craig Thompson; in the second he works with Jeffrey Brown

Both comic books were highly enjoyable, especially as someone who enjoys comics, philosophy and the analysis of art. Both were right up my alley, so being $5 each it was a bit of a no-brainer to invest in a copy of each. Kochalka’s mindset on free expression and open honesty — both things I love about American Elf — come through well, and getting to appreciate the work of two other comic artists I wasn’t familiar with was great.

My only complaints about the books would be that, for one, they were both really short, and also that the conversation meandered in and out of topic a bit much at times, which occasionally made the ideas hard to follow. I wouldn’t say this interfered with my enjoying them, but were the only things that held them back from being a perfect read.