My Wife: Is Not Toeing The Party Line On The Whole Deforge Thing

Okay. I’m in a bit of a spot. This comic book was handed to me with a genuine, “I think you’re gonna love this,” recommendation. And it wasn't just a genuine recommendation, there was an earnest hopefulness in the recommenders eyes. He loves this comic book. A lot. Which makes it so difficult for me to say, honestly, that I just didn’t enjoy it.

Lose #3
By Michael DeForge
Published by Koyama Press

I can see how if you are a person who reads comic books  - and has been reading them for years - this would be dreamy for you. It's clearly different than the usual mainstream thing. It's clever in its storytelling. And the art clearly has its own distinct style. I get it.

But the thing is, I haven’t been reading comic books for years. And so, when I read these things rather than comparing comic book to comic book I often am just comparing it to other things I read. Which is broad, to say the least. I mean, that’s why when they are bad, they are SO bad - because in comparison to BOOKS, even bad books, bad comic books often suffer drastically in comparison. (I think that's probably a bolder, harsher statement than I might necessarily intend it to be, but I'm not totally confident I can explain what I mean by it right now.)

In the case of Lose, I just felt a little at a loss. The longest “bit” in this anthology(?) is the story "Dog 2070".  And...well, I just didn’t understand why they were dogs? There was, at no time, any sort of doggish jokes, or some giant metaphor that was obvious enough for me to grasp ahold of. So I just kept thinking about that--why are they dogs? Is there some common people-as-dogs thing going on in comics I don't know about? Does he just dislike drawing people? And I don’t know if its because I’m trying to be a recovering narcissist and so found myself cringing with identification at some of Stephen's (the lead dog) behavior, or that I just finished reading what I found to be a very nuanced novel, rife with brilliant characterizations of flawed humanity and yet still heavy with a very honest sense of ennui, but the whole oops this dog just has no sense of how his self-centered behavior seems to other dogs just didn’t do it for me. It wasn’t over the top funny, it was just uncomfortable cringe humor. Maybe in a different mood, though, I would have been laughing out loud.

And then, I didn’t understand the format of this comic. There were these short stories taking up one, two and three page segments, and then "Dog 2070" which was, like, 20 pages. Was "Dog 2070" ever published alone, by itself? I just found it odd to have one 20 page story, and no other story that was anywhere near as long.

"Vanishing Gal" was just not my thing. It's kinda trippy. It requires one to stop and look at it, a lot. But that whole sort of thing just kind of, um....honestly? It repels me. I had to flip through it really quick. I'm impressed that a comic can pull that sort of emotional response out of me, but I can't really go beyond being impressed as some kind of intellectual acknowledgement.

I thought the "Ant Comic" was cute, relatively speaking. I think that’s what I was expecting out of "Dog 2070". Some sort of acknowledgment of their dog reality - some slight nod to the “dog eat dog” world. Or his wife being a “bitch.” You know, puns. But I guess that’s my thing, not Michael Deforge’s. Right? I know my husband hates puns.

So, anyhow....I don’t mean to say that this is a bad comic. It's not, and I never felt that it was when I was reading it. But did I “love” it? No. I’m sorry to say that I didn’t--I would have liked to, if only so that I could share in the obvious joy that I saw in the face of the person who handed it to me. It's more about my personal taste that I didn’t like it. It's a very clever and creative comic, and DeForge has a definite sense of humor that works really well with this medium. I think his art work is clean, engaging and interesting. I’m honestly disappointed that I didn’t like it more.

I do wish more improv comics where murdered on stage, though. I choose to take that story as a political statement, one that I'm firmly behind. Improv comedy is where humanity gave up its final shred of dignity. Reality television, Kim Jong Il, all that stuff that son of a bitch did to those kids out in Texas...that all comes out of fucking improv. I hate that shit.

-Nina Stone, 2011, although she might have had help on that last paragraph

Comments

[Matthew J. Brady]

Augh, it's TOEING the party line, not towing. Who tows a line? How would you even do that? It's pretty easy to put your toe on a line though. Pet peeve, I guess.

I like the review, as always though; good explanation of what did/didn't work for you, without telling everyone they were wrong for disagreeing. And the thing about bad comics being really fucking bad is damn right, don't apologize. The quality control in comics is lower than just about any medium aside from Youtube.

[Tom Vutayon]

May I ask what the name of that novel is that you just finished reading? You picqued my interest with "nuanced" and "brilliant characterizations of flawed humanity."

[Tucker Stone]

No real excuse on toeing/towing, i should've caught that since I'm the one who made up the title this time around. 15 lashes, and I deserve every one of 'em.

[wholesale jerseys]

I like the review, as always though; good explanation of what did/didn't work for you, without telling everyone they were wrong for disagreeing. And the thing about bad comics being really fucking bad is damn right, don't apologize. The quality control in comics is lower than just about any medium aside from Youtube.

[Nina]

Thanks Matthew. For the kudos as well as for the "toeing/towing" thing. I didn't write the title, but I've never known the appropriate spelling for this saying - so it was good to learn. :)

And Tom, the novel is Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. It won the Pulitzer...I don't know what year, though. Its a collection of 13 stories that all center on the same town and are somehow connected to Olive. If you read it, I hope you enjoy it!