This black-and-white image is one of the many haunting panels from Renee French's latest Web comic Baby Bjornstrand.

Anyone who has ever seen comics creator Renee French’s exquisite, graphite drawings never forgets the delicate, nimble touch of her black-and-white visions. While French’s ’90s comics, Grit Bath is grounded in a nightmarish netherworld of barely restrained violence, her new work evokes an odd tenderness underscored with bursts of unspoken uncertainty. Ricocheting from one extreme to the next, French’s comic art is mapping out a strange territory of dreamtime wanderlust that would make David Lynch smile.

In recent years, French’s comic art has evolved with a more refined approach to drawing as a kind of introspective meditation on paper. Her images materialize, erupt and burst open into a beautifully realized limbo of bizarre, child-like characters interacting with what looks like a cute, mutant baby chick or something that doesn’t quite belong to any known species. Somehow, French balances the task of developing this weird tale with her output of illustrations for children’s books.

The title of this absurdist Web comic is Baby Bjornstrand and you owe yourself the opportunity of sinking into the seductive ether of the artist’s beautifully rendered panels. The ambiguous story is quietly funny and often subtle in its slow-burning build up. This emphasis on subtlety proves to be an effective strategy for allowing readers to fully appreciate the artwork on its own terms while figuring out the offbeat narrative.

An unlikely bond forms between characters populating the shadowy landscape of Renee French's Web comic Baby Bjornstrand.

But why should you take my word for it? Here is a link to French’s web comic-in-progress that is worth checking out:

http://studygroupcomics.com/main/baby-bjornstrand-part-1-by-renee-french/

You can also see more of French’s finely detailed, black-and-white drawings on her blog where she posts frequent updates featuring images telegraphed directly from her subconscious mind onto the page with an original surrealist sensibility:

http://reneefrench.blogspot.com/ 

So, what exactly is inspiring this study in unhinged dreams? The only source of a credible answer would be French hersef. Here is a short interview with the artist discussing her latest work:

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2012/11/talking-comics-with-tim-renee-french-on-bjornstrand/

Here is a 2010 interview with French discussing her book, H Day, which is filled with drawings inspired by her chronic migraine headaches:

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/popcandy/post/2010/11/a-chat-with–artist-and-h-day-author-renee-french/1

One of the beautifully bizarre drawings in Renee French's migraine-inspired 2010 book, H Day.

Curious to learn more about French’s process and intent? Look no further than this video posted on You Tube featuring the artist discussing H Day divided into three sections:

One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3qrGOXRDZI

Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPghC2GqMTc

Three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQspuHxzvCk

Like its predecessor H Day and Grit Bath, weirdness and gallows humor abound in Baby Bjornstrand and the journey into the artist’s personal Twilight Zone is waiting for you to discover its dark pleasures.

Safe travels to the other side of the warped rainbow!

- Neil Kendricks