Jeff Lemire’s Minor Arcana launched last month with deeply real characters. Focused on a young woman who wants nothing but to avoid going home, she arrives reminded of her dying mother’s tarot reading business. She’s not a believer in the magic, or in the town she grew up in. She wants out, but something keeps pulling her into different directions.
Minor Arcana #2 opens where we left off: Theresa has entered a strange, deserted building. Is it even real? Her captions tell us she thinks it’s a dream that she can’t wake up from. Wandering its halls, she soon finds a doorway that impossibly leads outside into the wilderness.
Lemire is very good at drawing our attention and keeping the reader on their toes. Theresa meets a man, but she doesn’t want to believe he is the husband of the woman she’s doing a tarot reading for. It’s not until Theresa leaves the man that we realize the experience was magical—a magical one that Theresa refuses to believe was real.
Enter Theresa’s mother, who wants to make sense of what happened. Lemire pulls you into Theresa’s rage as she rejects her mother and spirals. Similar to the last issue, Theresa is angry at everything, using that anger to mask any growth or understanding of where she is and why.
Strange…
Credit: BOOM!
One possible gripe is how this story seems to be over before you know it. Maybe it’s because you’re right there with Theresa, but all told, the entire issue is only three or four scenes. The cliffhanger suggests Theresa is very much on a path she can’t escape, and that juxtaposes well with her refusal to accept what is happening. The art continues to evoke a wistful, dreamlike quality. The watercolors add to the surroundings, as well as the deep pain seen in the characters’ eyes. The mother, Theresa, and even the woman, Theresa, do the reading, for all have eyes that seem to say so much. The opening in the strange building is crafted with less color, giving it an odd dead feel. The scene stealer visual is a great double-page splash of Theresa coming to grips with what just happened as tarot cards frame her coming out of a door. It’s as if the tarot cards are doorways themselves.
The magical mystery of Minor Arcana #2 deepens with a main character who refuses to accept her place in her town. The issue is over before you know it, but that’s largely due to Lemire capturing your imagination and drawing you into his characters.
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