Cathy Malksian, Percy Gloom (Fantagraphics, 2007)
Percy Gloom is a lovely little (well, big actually) book that is, at its heart, about the dangers of oversheltering. Malkasian takes the usual formula and expands it, creating an entire society whose watchword is caution. (The product warnings in Malkasian's world look quite similar to our own. Not coincidence, this.) Everywhere in this world, we see the consequences of rampant paranoia spiraled out of control, including (but certainly not limited to) an overly competitive cautionary writer who injures himself in spectacular ways on the job so as to gain social status. (His project when we meet him: rigging up a contraption to drop an entire set of encyclopedias on his head.) From this premise, all Malkasian had to do was think a bit about the logical consequences of this insanity, and the end product is Percy Gloom. I rather hesitate to use the term "cautionary tale", but there's certainly an undercurrent of "we're headed this way, and we should take a look at it" beneath this enchanting, if depressing, piece of work. Highly recommended. ****
