I'm the weirdo forever hocking comic books at people. "They're good, I swear!" I have a bias, I know I do- the funny pages will forever hold a special place in my heart. I read a lot of comic books (my bank statements would be embarrassing), and though there are a lot of really fantastic ones out there, in the past and present, there are just as many if not more that I see will only appeal to a niche number of people. They're an odd sort of wall that keeps the vast majority of comic works away from the vast majority of people.
But every once in a while, there's a special book that comes along, that catches me off guard and dazzles me, that does things I've never seen done in media or storytelling before, things that can only be done in comic books. The special kind of book that seems to me like a rocketship able to breach that barrier between trashy pulp and ink and true art, like stuff like "Maus" and "Persepolis" have done before it. 2017 brought such a book- and that book is "My Favorite Thing Is Monsters".
"My Favorite Thing Is Monsters" was released back in February by "Fantagraphics", and is written and illustrated by Emil Farris, a Chicago born cartoonist and admitted trashy monster movie fan. And its this love of the old Creature Features and EC Horror comic books of the 50s that shines the brightest in "My Favorite Thing Is Monsters", Ferris' first (and as the back of the book says, not her last) graphic novel. But don't be fooled by that horrific mask that this book wears- this is a piece of work with something to say, with ideas to express.
"My Favorite Thing Is Monsters" follows 10-year-old Karen Reyes, who lives with her single mother and older brother in Chicago in the 1960's. Karen's apartment neighbor above her is found murdered one day, which sparks Karen, in her own 10-year-old way, to investigate the woman's death.
In the lens of the story, Karen is drawn as a little werewolf, transforming at the start of the book, her "bones [getting] longer and [cracking] into new shapes." This element of the story is presented as fairly normal in the story's world, as something people aren't shocked and in disbelief about. "My Favorite Thing Is Monsters" is a magical realism story in this way- otherworldly, supernatural things occur in the story, but they are presented as fairly normal, as just another aspect of life. And it is this and other magical elements that are used as metaphors for larger ideas- for race and sexuality (two things Karen and her family face difficulty in, set against the backdrop of a bigotted 1960's Chicago) and for the greater evil and grotesquery that exists in people, the ability for anyone to become a monster themselves. It's a story that is coming-of-age, that is surreal like a childhood dream, and that is haunted by a real darkness, by real issues that are as relevant today as they were 50 years ago.
The story and narrative are only the first layers in why "My Favorite Thing Is Monsters" is so damn good. Its visual style and presentation are where the true genius and talent of this book and Emil Ferris lies. The story is presented in the form of Karen Reyes' actual diary- every page looks like lined notebook paper that Karen's drawings live inside. Done in cross-hatched lines, the visuals of the story are as lucid as they are uncanny, intense, jagged black and white pencil drawings that are frequently cut in half by splashes of vibrant color, complemented by lines of prose that exist separately throughout the page. The drawings are rendered in a grotesque, unnerving way- a massive, tentacled monster shaped like a human heart is as uncomfortable to look at as a man on the street's face in the midst of an enraged scream. While some of the pages of the book play out like your average comic book, others require the reader to traverse the page differently, to take in this intricate, full-page image, while also stopping to read the different fragments of text that exist in different corners of the page. Drawing influences and visual styles from classical paintings and the aftermentioned EC 50's horror comic books (think "Tales From the Crypt", "My Favorite Thing Is Monsters" is the kind of storytelling you're unlikely to find anywhere else.
It's worth mentioning too, that Emil Ferris, an artist by trade, contracted West Nile Virus in 2001, which left her not only paralyzed from the waist down, but also unable to use her right hand, her drawing hand. A horrifying blow from the universe for anyone, but for an artist to lose the ability to lose their hand- well, it's a whole level of terrible, cosmic irony.
But Emil Ferris braved onwards- teaching herself to draw again, going back to school (at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago no less) for her MFA, and persisting for 16 years to produce a work which existed in her head for probably decades, "My Favorite Thing Is Monsters" is not only a story about Chicago in the past and in the present, a memoir about growing up and coming to terms with one's own sexuality, but is a story, much like the supernatural beings that inspired its creations, that refused to stay in the grave, that refused to die.
And you should seriously read it, and keep your eyes and ears open for its sequel second volume, scheduled to be released in August of 2018.
