Utah and All That Jazz

 Welcome to the surreal world of best selling cartoonist Cal Grondahl. Through his R. Crumm-like visions, he introduces us to the state’s “Anti-Pleasure Patrol” and its motto, “To Protect You From Yourself”; through hyperopic images we witness latter-day gulls attacking hordes of Utah deer hunters; we visit “Park City, Colorado,” which boasts the least cultural ties to the Beehive State; we see the first structure built in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847–a pioneer basketball court to proselyte Indians; and we find out why some Utahns insist on leaving to “escape extreme sensory deprivation.” Once again Grondahl successfully lampoons America’s favorite twilight zone–that stretch of emptiness between Nevada and Colorado.