Poet Shin Yu Pai and illustrator Justin Rueff’s new comic book captures the beauty of the Pacific Northwest and the profound disconnection of the pandemic.

by Jas Keimig

The sight of ferries disappearing into the Puget Sound horizon. Savoring the last raspberries of summer. COVID spreading rampantly through elementary classrooms and schools. In their new comic book Less Desolate published by Blue Cactus Press, poet Shin Yu Pai and illustrator Justin Rueff capture the splendors of living in the Pacific Northwest as well as the profound isolation and social unrest during the pandemic by using an interesting, little-known artform — the haiku comic.