Ant Colony has an interesting look to the art - it’s very colourful, the creatures are designed weirdly, with a dog face for a spider, and a cheerful limo-look to the centipede, and the ants all look like anything but ants - but DeForge’s various rambling plotlines don’t really go anywhere. This was my first Michael DeForge comic and, having now finished it, I’m not encouraged to rush back for more. A couple of gay ants have relationship troubles everyone’s bothered by the repetitive drudgery of their work and the seeming pointlessness of keeping their Queen happy a father gives bad advice to his son regarding an earthworm leading to his son becoming a prophet(!) there’s an ant-hunt to catch a serial-killing spider and war with the red ants, a neighbouring colony, begins. All of this is done with humor and sensitivity, exposing a world where spiders can wreak unimaginable amounts of havoc with a single gnash of their jaws.ĭeForge’s striking visual sensibility-stark lines, dramatic color choices, and brilliant use of page and panel space-stands out in this volume.Īnt Colony is a subversive look at Western society through the prism of anthropomorphised ants. Underneath, though, Ant Colony plumbs the deepest human concerns-loneliness, faith, love, apathy, and more.
On the surface, it’s the story of this war, the destruction of a civilization, and the ants’ all too familiar desire to rebuild. His brash, confident, undulating artwork sent a shock wave through the comics world for its unique, fully formed aesthetic.įrom its opening pages, Ant Colony immerses the reader in a world that is darkly existential, with false prophets, unjust wars, and corrupt police officers, as it follows the denizens of a black ant colony under attack from the nearby red ants.
In the few short years since he began his pamphlet-size comic book series Lose, Michael DeForge has announced himself as an important new voice in alternative comics. The debut graphic novel from a dazzling newcomer with a singular, idiosyncratic style
0 kommentar(er)
