A shorthand way of describing this comic is that it’s very metal. ”Metal” in the very best junior-high school sense of the word, where a world of fantasies and possibilities have arisen that have a certain jagged edge to them, representative of the teenager’s simple view of the world as either awesome or deserving of scorn and/or revenge. It’s metal in the occasional id-born brutality of those fantasies. It’s metal in its sweep, and in its and unapologetic and unironic embrace of the epic, the over-the-top and the operatic. The genius of this book is the way that Brodkowski employs restraint in his narrative and patience in his pacing. He doesn’t bother to spell out what’s happening in these fantasy narratives, forcing the reader to simply accept what’s on the page and roll with it. This is not to say that his storytelling is unclear; indeed, the deliberate nature of that pacing makes his stories quite easy to follow in terms of structure. Each story has its own internal logic, no matter how screwy it may be. His control over his line is so exact yet expressive that one never questions what one is looking at, but rather why it’s happening…

Like the other books Secret Acres publishes, Curio Cabinet is the result of a cartoonist with a vision that doesn’t neatly conform to underground, genre or typical alt-comics sensibilities. Curio Cabinet is informed by pop culture detritus in terms of its form and inspiration, but Brodowski takes that juvenilia and creates something strange, beautiful and memorable. It’s a comic that must be approached on its own terms, because while the images and stories can be teased for meaning with a little effort, Brodowski not only doesn’t spell it out, he understands that spelling it out would destroy the effect he’s going for: that sense of full immersion in fantasy, following it to its furthest ends.

– Rob Clough, The Comics Journal

Every day throughout the month of December, Attentiondeficitdisorderly will spotlight one of the best comics of 2010. Today’s comic is Curio Cabinet by John Brodowski, published by Secret Acres — quietly ecstatic horror.

I’ve been writing about the similarity between the horrific and the sublime for (God help me) over a decade now, but its rare for me to come across a comic that makes that connection as frequently and as subtly as John Brodowski’s Curio Cabinet. While reading it I located squarely in the increasingly rich contemporary alt-horror tradition–the deformed figures and soft pencils of Renee French, the heavy-metal/D&D imagery of Lane Milburn, the mostly wordless narratives of (to my delight!) almost too many talented horror cartoonists to list. And yes, there’s even the de rigeur cat-torturing scene. But only in flipping through the book in preparation to write this review did I realize just how many of Brodowski’s short, creepy stories end with their alternately hapless or horrifying protagonists gazing into a vista of vast natural or even cosmic splendor. Two separate characters who have very different nature-based obsessions both end up immersed in the great outdoors, staring off into the distance–as does a lake monster after unleashing its full destructive power on a battlefield. Two other characters–one the victim of a monster-induced car wreck, the other none other than Jason Voorhees–become a part of titanic outer-space tableaux: Jason is cradled by his mother Pieta-style in the sky, the accident victim welcomed into the embrace of a colossal dog-god. Several stand-alone images, most memorably a series of illustrations from the old anti-Semitic myth cycle of the Wandering Jew, take on a similarly ecstatic, transcendental feel. The message is both troubling and comforting: It implies a connection between the individual horrors we experience and the very fabric of existence, yet it also suggests that perhaps an enlightenment is possible whereby this waking nightmare can be appreciated, if never fully understood. More like this, please.

– Sean T. Collins, Attentiondeficitdisorderly

Curio Cabinet by John Brodowski is really terrifying, nightmarish and good. It’s smart and weird and everything I hope for when I got to pick up my mail at the PO Box.

– Kevin Huizenga

John Brodowski’s first two comics are drawn in lush pencils, the perfect medium in which to depict the dullness of suburbia and its inhabitants: grotesque families, D&D-inspired monsters, and passionate squirrel-men.

The stories in these books are very cinematic. The opening piece in Curio Cabinet #1, “Grandfather’s Clock,” reminded me of David Lynch’s Eraserhead. Like that film, its subject is a mysterious reproduction: A fiddler performing on stage creates a cloud of musical notes, two of which engage in some kind of intercourse, resulting in the birth of the protagonist. The mutated family, music incarnate, is observed eating a meal and communicating in musical-note filled speech balloons. The cute musical-note-headed hero visits the fiddler (his grandfather?) in the hospital … the end. This story has its own logic and doesn’t stoop to explain itself, leaving the reader with a generous amount of dark graphite images to ponder.

A series of drawings follow that deepen and darken the mood, depicting incursions of sci-fi weirdness into playgrounds and backyards. These remind me of Steven Spielberg or the photos of Gregory Crewdson, in which the burbs are invaded by inexplicable, supernatural forces. It’s a familiar device, but these drawings are very funny.

The book ends with another memorable and wordless tale. A picnicker is plucked up by a massive wolf-headed bird, much to his girlfriend’s chagrin. The bird files the man to a mountain in the clouds to do battle with two of the most gnarly characters ever seen outside of Napoleon Dynamite’s sketchbook.

The second issue of Curio Cabinet contains a long tale about a man’s obsession with squirrels, and a series of short strips starring Jason from the Friday the 13th movies. It is only slightly less perfect than issue #1, and is also highly recommended.

– Matthew Thurber, Comics Comics

Top 50 Books of 2010
8. Curio Cabinet, by John Brodowski (Secret Acres). Here’s my original review. To quote that review: “[Curio Cabinet is] series of stories where quiet moments quickly become outrageous and horrific in a way that is frequently ecstatic, and outrageous moments unexpectedly become calm and contemplative.” Like much of alt-comics horror, this book works on a number of levels, not the least of which is as comedy.

- Rob Clough, High-Low

Brodowski’s tastes for trinket collecting, gas station kitsch, 80′s horror and action movies, heavy metal, and rural Vermont get tossed in the blender and Curio Cabinet is the result. Brodowski has developed a signature drawing style that relies on pencil shading and leaves out the ink all together. The Curio Cabinet book by Secret Acres collects the self-published Curio Cabinet 1-4 plus some extra goodies. Each issue is a collection of short segments, with very little text or dialog, and other random drawings. Some of the pieces have the essence of a narrative, which is usually a very small segment of time or some psychedelic transformation. Browdowski has a real knack for expanding a moment and lingering on the details within. There is a really interesting tension between the hints of narrative and the refusal to lay it all out in some easily understood fashion. Basically, I think a lot of readers could mistake these short segments as not making any sense and not saying anything, but most of these segments do have some sort of logic to them, even if it is an inside joke and difficult to decode. Curio Cabinet really relies on reading the images, noticing small differences and having a twisted sense of humor. There is a continuing segment called “Cus Mommy Says So” which chronicles the loneliness John imagines for Jason from the Friday the 13th movies. Most of the other tales are short one-offs. Look for tales of a suicidal axe, a man who want to become a squirrel, teen dweeb metal heads, the joys of building a fort in the woods, and other weirdness that is too hard to put into words and best just experienced.

- League of Comics Librarians