Everyone knows about the wider mythologies that creep their way into childhood, everything from Bigfoot to Slender Man that infects young brains in a way that the most fantastic fictions mingle with the drudgery of normal life. But there’s also all the local lore that doesn’t necessarily make it out into the wider world, the […]
Review: Technology as the agent of change, good or bad, in ‘I Feel Machine’
In some ways aiming to be the Black Mirror of graphic anthologies, I Feel Machine features six cartoonists each exploring the intersection between humanity and technology, and how humans change because of their encounters with the fruits of technological advance. Unlike Black Mirror, though, the creators behind I Feel Machine don’t necessarily try to start […]
Review: Folk horror meets social satire in ‘Lip Hook’
Lip Hook takes some of the best conventions of the British folk horror genre and uses them to perfect effect. Outsiders becoming stranded in a remote village? Check. Pagan worship amongst the populace? Check. Lord of the village at the center of possible villainy? Check. Locals who appear to be keeping a secret amongst them? […]
Review: The skewed colors of manhood in ‘Tumult’
The noir genre has one dynamic at its center that repeats so often it’s hard to tell if it’s a cliche or an archetype — a man searching for something more in life encounters a woman who brings danger and mystery. And at heart, that is all Tumult is about. But though it draws thematically […]
Review: Javi Rey’s ‘Out in the Open’ is a quiet, dark coming of age tale
From Moses to Mad Max, wandering in arid desert lands evokes a journey for self, for destiny, and of course for survival. Usually it marks a transitional place in the wanderer’s life — think of the Aboriginal walkabouts in Australia that are conducted in the passage from youth and into adulthood, but also stand as […]
Review: The mind-bending wild west meditation of ‘The Smell of Starving Boys’
In Frederik Peeters and Loo Hui Phang’s The Smell of Starving Boys, the words “virgin land” are used several times to describe America’s West. The idea is that this area is untouched, but photographer Oscar Forrest points out to his fellow expedition member Stingley, it is not untouched. It just hasn’t been possessed by white […]
Review: Living the dream in ‘Stardust Nation’
This mysterious work adapted by Booker-nominated author Deborah Levy from her own story captures the dynamic between two advertising men, Tom and Nikos, who have some bond between them that seems to be melding who they are, or at least who they think they are. We greet the day with Tom, who doesn’t truly greet anything. […]
Review: A Kafkaesque coming-of-age-tale by Pieter Coudyzer
Walking a line between a depressing coming of age tale and a Kafkaesque expression of emotional hurt manifesting itself physically, Outburst ends up twisting both of them together into a probably inevitable horror finale. But Pieter Coudyzer does ask an interesting question — what if your place of respite is also an affliction that tortures […]
Preview: Josephine Baker by Muller and Bouquet captures a whole era and a timeless hero
If you’re looking for a real-life badass heroine, you won’t find a better one than Josephine Baker.
The Beat’s Best Comics of 2016
Featuring Beat staff members and special contributions from some of the best cartoonists of the year. It was a wild year but there were some good comics to keep us entertained and thinking.