THE GENRE BENDERS

A round-up of the most unusual graphic novels of 2020

- LINDSAY PEREIRA

Familiar Face, the latest graphic novel from prolific Canadian comics artist Michael DeForge, arrived in bookshops a little before the world went into lockdown. That seemed surprising, when I first flipped through its colourful pages, because it felt as if the book had been created by someone already in quarantine, for an audience struggling to make sense of this unprecedented way of living.

There are no actual faces here, or none that look human. Set in a future where humans and the world they live in are nothing more than a blend of software and hardware, it describes the dangers towards which we are collectively headed as a species. DeForge’s unnamed narrator supposedly works for the government, as does his or her partner. We can’t tell because there are no men or women here, just sentient beings with constantly updated software patches. People wake up looking different; the rooms and shapes of their homes change randomly, as do roads, parks and offices. Controlling it all, including how they are meant to feel, is an unseen authority. And yet, in this dystopia, a lot of things start to seem recognisable.

I realised, after putting it down, that graphic novelists were probably more equipped to grapple with our current state than artists working with other media because they could go where budgets prevented everyone else from going.