Review: "You & a Bike & a Road" by Eleanor Davis

You & a Bike & a Road by Eleanor Davis
Published May 2017 via Fantagraphics
★★★★

3.5 stars. You & a Bike & a Road charts Davis's solo bike trip across the American Southwest, eastwards to her home in Georgia. She was biking through negative thoughts, and also with the knowledge that if she had kids it would be years before she could do something similar again. Biking through hot weather and suffering knees and border patrol helicopters flying overhead and swooping down to—Davis guesses, and frankly so do I—check her skin color. Experiencing unexpected kindnesses and witnessing terrifying border patrol–related events and meeting other people on bicycle tours. Knee pain and comics and self-doubt.

Artistically, this reminds me a little of Liana Finck. Though there are some full-page drawings, mostly these are quick sketches done with the free time and energy and supplies that one has on the road. I'm guessing (actually...I can confirm from Davis's social media) that under other circumstances her style is different. I don't mind the simplicity of the style, as it works for the project, though I did wish that at least the cross-outs (there are two on the first page alone) had been edited out. It's almost certainly a stylistic choice, but it just...was not my favorite.

The story itself, though: It's relatively quiet, but Davis works in a lot of recurring themes and understated commentary, making broader points in just a few simple drawings. Would definitely recommend, both in the context of the current US...situation...and for those dreaming of a solo adventure of whatever kind.