Trista and Holt #2

By Andrez Bergen

“I knew what Brangien was going to say as soon as we hopped in the limo. Her favorite line from a dumb soap commercial on the box.”

“Simon Tahiti!”

She looks familiar…he does too! Writer and illustrator Andrez Bergen offers up another noir tale in his second issue of Trista and Holt. As a bonus, for anyone wanting to go back and see how many you noticed, he includes which celebrities and fun references he’s placed throughout the story (even an explanation to the quote seen above). Can you spot all the celebrities making their comic debut?

This issue Holt takes some time to visit the “small fry” and in doing so walks into a rather hilarious duo. A pair he admits is where he learned a lot about the biz from. It’s here, and also there, over there too, where Bergen has some fun with the panels (but let’s just focus on this one scene shall we?). Holt’s arrival in the basement of the club comes via a page shrouded in darkness, minimal light leading our way as well as Holt’s as he moves about the page, the six panels of movement layered over a similar picture, and then comes the next page which has the brother’s ready to pull Holt (and the reader) into the party…well…threes a crowd, right? (or is it company?) The brothers begin to tell tales and the page that follows the beers being thrown back is a grand explosion (related to the story being told) – who authorized such an event? Holt’s old man!

Bergen outdoes himself with the second issue of Trista and Holt as his page layouts become more and more playful and are jam-packed with his creative narrative and images. This comic offers something new, something fresh, something suspenseful.