You’ve heard the saying “All style, no substance.” It applies to MODEL LIFE: THE JOURNEY OF A PINT-SIZE FASHION WARRIOR, Isobella Jade’s graphic memoir about her uphill climb from aspiring model to a successful one. It’s underwritten, sketchy and anticlimactic, but that doesn’t mean I disliked it.
While in college pursuing a degree in advertising, the short, skinny Jade decides to answer a few ads on Craigslist for models. (You see where this is going, right?) Those jobs entail her stripping to her underwear, and then fully nude, while a “photographer” snaps away, intending to use the shots for God knows what.
More than a little naive, she shows up for a “video shoot,” which entails getting naked and making out with another woman on camera. She signs a release; clips show on YouTube; this causes friction in her relationships with her boyfriend, sister and mother.
Then, suddenly, she starts kinda starts getting legit work. This leaves loose ends untied as the book comes to an abrupt end. But cut it some slack — it’s a very slim work that can be read in full within 10 minutes. So what if it’s only skin-deep? Perhaps it’s intended to be that way. After all, I’d rather Jade tell her story in this medium, rather than in extended prose in a full-fledged autobiography. This way, we’re not given time not to care.
Jazmin Ruotolo handles art, which isn’t all that filled in, and at times looks rather rushed, as if it were trying to fill a grueling weekly manga schedule. However, one thing I liked in her approach is melding other elements into her drawings, such as photographs, pages from Jade’s handwritten diary and even her math exam.
At its best, MODEL LIFE is a nontaxing cautionary tale, even though her encounters with sleaze are like rungs of a ladder leading to the happy ending. —Rod Lott
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