Mimi Pond

The graphic novel, The Customer is Always Wrong by Mimi Pond is loosely based on the author’s own life. Set in Oakland in the late seventies it is the story of a young artist who, to make ends meet, works as a waitress in the Imperial Cafe, a restaurant that seems to house eccentrics, drunks, junkies and creeps. The story revolves around Madge and the many fascinating characters that she works with and waits upon.

This is very much a story of a young person who is just about to find herself. After a romantic breakup, she submits some of her cartoons to various magazines in New York and to her surprise, three are picked for publication. Now she knows that it is in her destiny to move to New York and follow her dream. Of course the people around her have their own dramas and concerns and making that decision to move on isn’t easy. It doesn’t help that just as her life appears to be advancing, many of her friends are stuck in the sameness of their lives, and succumb to addiction and alcoholism.

Both the drawings and the narrative are stylish and straight to the point as this young woman ponders her future and makes the decision to advance her life and career. The book reminds us how we all remember a certain place at a certain time in our past when we needed to make major life decisions in order to grow. There are some dark moments, but the author knows how to use humor to advance this story that excellently captures the melodrama of moving on and leaving people and places behind.… (mere)