Anyone who has lived in downtown Toronto in the past 10 years has probably been exposed to the art of Fiona Smyth. A respected and sometimes controversial Toronto artist, Smyth has been referred to as an “urban cave painter.” Her iconic art has been featured in comics anthologies, murals, comic strips, zines, and in art galleries in Toronto, New York, and Tokyo. Now her surreal and seemingly impenetrable monthly comic strip Cheez from Exclaim! magazine has been collected in Cheez 100.

Smyth’s bold black-and-white comics “evoke the margins of a teenage girl’s notebook,” as one admirer puts it, making Cheez 100 feel like a series of highly coded diary entries. Her personalized iconography – represented by such images as vaginas, penises, teardrops, and innocent troll dolls – carry meanings such as good luck, the soul, or inspiration. On one level, the icons in her work can be used to construct new meanings based on their juxtaposition – call it non-linear visual poetry. With a personal lexicon of her most common icons supplied by Smyth, and written commentary by admirers from various artistic communities, Cheez 100 is a fascinating and enlightening tribute.