A group of disparate lost souls sits inside an isolated house, trying to connect and determine their next moves in Dinner with a Conspiracy Theorist, Gordon Harris’ sequel to the graphic novel, Pedestrian. Tamaya, Ray, and Joe faced an apocalypse on what appears to be current Earth while the fourth member, an unnamed barbarian, appeared through a rip in the space-time continuum. While they seem mostly non-plussed by the new world, there are hints that despite the devastation, it’s still safer than what they left behind. A rumbling pushes Tamaya to investigate the locked basement, and her discovery might be the group’s salvation or sudden death.
Dinner with a Conspiracy Theorist fits the bill for a character-driven plot. There are brief flashbacks into each character’s lives, but their interactions and biases drive things forward rather than external action (until the climax). I initially thought that the pacing was slow, but by the end I recognized it was a deliberate plan to gently build to the final scenes. None of the characters would have interacted in the pre-apocalypse world (Well, the barbarian wouldn’t have been torn to Earth with an anomaly.) They must build a rapport with each other to progress in the barren world and trust the expertise of the group.
Initially, I wasn’t sure where the story in Dinner with a Conspiracy Theorist was going. I haven’t read Pedestrian, and the set up of strangers in a house talking about the end of the world didn’t immediately grab me. Tamaya’s discovery in the basement and the build up to (and small hints) about the quartet’s final challenges piqued my curiosity. By the last few pages, I was ready to randomly wander the Dinner universe with the crew just to see what else they could stumble upon.
Gordon Harris’ artwork seems almost dreamlike, which fits the surreal, bleak world he’s created. The art style isn’t cartoonish; it just balances realism with stylization in a way that matches the overall tone of work. Fans of full-color graphic novels can rejoice, because each panel is meticulously tinted, even if the barbarian’s general scheme is black, white, and grey.
Dinner with a Conspiracy Theorist isn’t a story that raises your heart rate or keeps you on the edge of your seat, but I didn’t need that. It’s a calm reminder that humans can find mystery in the smallest things…and, sometimes, that birds will remember that they descended from dinosaurs and will want to kill you.
4 Lost Friends in a Porta-Potty out of 5
Creative Team: Gordon Harris (writer/artist)
Publisher: Collide-A-Scope Comics
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