Jesse Reklaw

[Originally published on NewPages.com]

This is an intriguing little publication from noted comics artist Jesse Reklaw. While digging through a recycling bin at an Ivy League university one night, he found old files (1965-1975) of biology Ph.D. applicants, including photographs of each candidate. Realizing the grand potential of such a find, Reklaw organized the photos into zine format, complementing them with candid phrases from the applicants’ recommendation forms. So, as you flip through show more the zine you end up staring at, for example, a black-and-white photo of an earnest young man with the caption below it reading “rather tense,” or a young lady labeled “not as physically attractive as some.” The effect is startling and vaguely disturbing. The combination of the photograph and the often-ruthless summations of these students by their former professors and employers makes you want to simultaneously laugh at and pity them. Highly recommended. show less

“One night while rooting through the recycling bin for magazines, I found all the confidential Ph.D. applicant files for the biology department at an Ivy League university from the years 1965-1975. Stapled to many of the yellowed documents were photographs of the prospective students. They were treasures! I tore through the folders and rescued every portrait I could find. I had to have them. Only later did I realize I had to publish them”.

So begins the preface to Jesse Reklaw’s show more Applicant. A priceless time-bomb of pop culture, Reklaw serves a compelling and secret look into an impossibly lost era. The book collects photos from the 1970s paired with accompanying comments from employers and professors. The results are absurdist, confusing, often hilarious and disturbing.

Applicant provides unique insight into outdated 1970s social attitudes and ephemera (under one girl’s photo: “Weakness: she is a female, and an attractive, modest one, so is bound to marry”). Much of the book’s appeal however is found in what the book fails to say: the blank and despondent stares of it’s subjects, the outdated fashions and hairstyles and it’s understated text. Equal parts Ann Taintor and Found Magazine, Applicant is one of those books you read once and then want to show everyone. show less

This is the first graphic novel I have read by Reklaw. The selection came as part of a small project considering graphic novels dealing with mental illness. Reklaw's effort certainly has the feel of "a man literally losing his mind." The artwork is equal parts vivid and bleak. The narrative is fractured. In some cases, Reklaw's artistic ability is clearly apparent. In others, the book feels contrived. The biggest challenge is the feeling that he is just a whiney hipster oblivious to the show more entitlement that keeps him from being murdered or incarcerated. Submitted by SNW 5/9/24 show less

This is my second experience with Jesse Reklaw's work. Keeping Score is far more coherent than LOVF - and understandably so - but comes across with less impact. The recurrent score-keeping of drugs, drinking, and exercise are interesting but eventually seem to be doing more harm than good to him. In fact, much of the book takes on a whinging tone. I found myself less sympathetic as the book went along. The use of guest contributors was a cool aspect of the book. I hope Reklaw continues to show more improve as he uses this medium as a therapeutic outlet. show less