Strange Planet
May we initiate obscure and pursue? (Can we play hide and seek?)
Nathan Pyle
Atop the beige toilet tank in the downstairs bathroom of my house sits a green ceramic Kleenex tissue holder purchased at Target that centuries from now will be displayed behind glass in a museum, and leaning against it since New Year’s Day is a 6” x 6” pinkish-reddish-blueish-purpleish book with a cartoonish “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” alien staring back at me whilst I dither about my bathroom ways.
Titled “Strange Planet,” the book contains a series of short, irreverent comic strips penned by Nathan Pyle about a group of friendly space creatures and their overtly technical descriptions of what they find and experience here on Earth. You know what you’re in for right away when a suntan is referred to as “star damage.” Or the book’s acknowledgement to Taylor, the author’s wife, which says, “You remove the air from my lungs” (i.e. “you take my breath away) accompanied by a cartoon of an alien giving his/her (they’re androgynous space aliens, so who knows) significant other a picture of a Cupid arrow piercing a heart that says “I drew a vital organ being wounded.” You get the drift.
The back of the book contains something akin to an appendix translating Space Planet-ese of “commonly observed objects.” They include:
- Personal Star Dimmers/sunglasses
- Seriousness Cloth/ties
- Foot Ramps women’s/high heel shoes
- Foot fabric tubes/socks
- Forcing string/dental floss
- Trash necklace/bib
- Mouth stone brush/toothbrush
- Mouth stone goo/toothpaste
- Vast dough circle/pizza
- Hydration cylinder/glass
- Jitter liquid/coffee
- Sweet disks/cookies
- Rollsuck/vacuum cleaner
- Elastic breath traps/balloons
- Star damage limiter/sunscreen
- Comfort square/pillow
- Spinblaster/microwave oven
- Skyshield/umbrella
- Sustenance preserver/refrigerator
- Death cylinder/flower vase
The Skinny Kid gave me the book as a Christmas present. Actually, he gave everyone in our family the tidy little hardback book as a Christmas gift. It’s just so Keith Geiger. He loved “Strange Planet,” and he saw no reason why everyone wouldn’t love it, so why not give it to everyone. Very astute, Iowa-ish thinking if you ask me. Plus, it’s a damn funny book, and it always manages to start my day off with a smile.
What a great Christmas present. Thanks, Keith.
