A review by hollowspine
Petty Theft by Helge Dascher, Pascal Girard

4.0

I'm not sure I'd call this a romantic comedy. It's a bit too realistic for that, a bit too awkward. And, really, where's the romance? Not that I missed it. I would call this a slice of life comic.

Pascal would rather play detective than admit he's primed for a rebound relationship with a girl he saw but didn't meet at a bookstore. After witnessing her shoplift his own book Pascal is both flattered and intrigued. Why is she shoplifting? Why his book? After having a few cups of coffee at the cafe where she works Pascal "bumps" into her at the gym and introduces himself.

They start seeing each other, and each time it seems she finds another book to slip into her bag. Unable to let the theft go unnoticed Pascal goes to unusual lengths to solve the case.

I really enjoyed the artwork and characters from this story. The huge bobblehead of his ex continually popping up with it's haunting, yet hilarious, gaze was truly enthralling. Like Reunion there was a near epic level of awkwardness throughout the story, which kept me on the edge of an embarrassed cringe. The boxes of books were also something I could really empathize with, though I never thought of selling mine.

I kept wondering (and still don't really understand) his motivation in outing her theft. Did he want to save the bookshop? Did he want to keep her out of trouble? Was it just something he needed to correct? I'm really not sure. Maybe it was just something to distract him from the huge face of his longterm no longer girlfriend.