The Last Lonely Saturday by Jordan Crane

This is short, nearly wordless, and close to twenty years old. I read it because I wanted a book I could finish that day. So I think I will be brief.

The Last Lonely Saturday is the story of an unnamed older man, on a Saturday in August. He gets up, he writes a letter to someone named Elenore, he buys flowers, he remembers scenes from many years before. He's sad, melancholy - we know he's lonely from the title.

We know where this is going to go: to the cemetery. And it does.

We know he loved Elenore; we suspect - and then learn for sure - that she loved him just as much.

And we know what the title means, once we get to that cemetery. There's only one way that it can be the "last."

Jordan Crane tells this story wistfully, with two slightly taller-than-wide panels per page, a sunny yellowish color dominant to give that feel of the hot August sun. His line is rounded, somewhat cartoony, and he tells this story in pantomime, mostly - it's not about characters who can talk to each other, is it?

It is a small thing, on purpose. It tells exactly the story it wants to tell, exactly the way it wants to, in a format and style that only comics could, and its sadness is the kind we all know, eventually. It's a lovely little book.