To be young and all you need is a cold soda

My friend insisted that I read this out of print Jordan Crane graphic novel, Col-Dee. 

This first person comic is a memory from a hot summer of a boy’s youth. He spends his days hanging out with his friends including a boy named Billy, who is kind of a jerk. We open with Billy chasing the boy and tripping him with glee. But soon the kids are distracted by the arrival of an awesome soda machine. They beg and plead for a free soda, but the delivery man tells them it’s not his soda to give away. This is devastating to the little gang. They attempt to devise a plan to make that ice cold soda theirs. Asking their moms is the likely course of action. But whose mom will part with a whole 50 cents just for soda? Billy says his mom is definitely out. The soda money quest falls to our tiny narrator. He’s unsure about asking his mom as they never have much money. When he’s tasked with grocery duty, she always wants the smallest items possible. And a lottery ticket, one day they’ll hit it big. He runs to the store for her that very day and returns to find his mom slightly depressed smoking cigs. With bated breath, he waits with their black cat for her to scratch the ticket – no win today.

She asks for her change…in a split decision, he only returns some of the money. He really, really wants that soda. And won’t his mom just waste it anyway on another lotto ticket? He races back to the vending machine, but the dollar won’t work and continues to spit back out. In a fit of rage, he kicks the machine and a miracle happens. He gets a soda AND his dollar back all at once! He has a magic dollar! He shares his wealth of soda with his pals, burping the summer day away. But a pang of guilt hits him. This is totally the dollar his mom needs to win that money. He races to the store and gets her a ticket. She decides to save it for a rainy day. The rest of the story follows him as he waits to see if the magic has worked.

This was a nice change of pace after reading all of Seal Wolf Christmas in one day for VF. I loved all the scenes of the out of work mom. They were a bittersweet juxtaposition to the youthful glee over cold soda. Even pumped full of sugar, the little boy wants to help make his mom happy. Definitely keen to read more from Jordan Crane for #CBR7.

Read my other reviews on my blog, Confessions of a Pop Culture Addict.