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teaguemparker's review
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
wildlikeoscar8's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
ndah's review
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
rowanine's review
challenging
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
ohmanbleh's review
3.0
Ms D is a thirty-something "juvenile delinquent" in a world where pranks are a revered form of popular art and "Delinquent" is a technical term for an arts professional who specializes in prank. Ms D is a delinquency star, and she's reached adulthood having defined herself entirely by her ambition and success.. Only, she isn't "juvenile" anymore. In fact, she's kind of old news.
Brat uses delinquency as a (hilarious) stand-in to explore the emptiness of artistic success, fame & ambition. Ms D's existential crisis leads to alcoholism. Her acolyte, an aspiring juvenile delinquent, lets her grades slip and abandons college to pursue a career in meaningless cruelty. We see Ms D's dysfunctional relationship with her family and see how almost everyone around her feeds off her fame.
The darkness goes down smooth. As clever and and insightful Brat can be in observations about its characters, it's mostly interested in the jokes. The book really seems to find the darkness of the human soul fascinating and kinda hilarious - and that's about it. It's not a downer, but it left me feeling kinda empty (like Ms D, maybe?).
For me the artwork is the highlight, and the expressionistic feel it gives to the story. For instance - Ms D's drunken debauchery is represented by her body literally melting, before drying into a thin husk. She's only reconstituted by an intern applicant's praise and admiration.
Brat uses delinquency as a (hilarious) stand-in to explore the emptiness of artistic success, fame & ambition. Ms D's existential crisis leads to alcoholism. Her acolyte, an aspiring juvenile delinquent, lets her grades slip and abandons college to pursue a career in meaningless cruelty. We see Ms D's dysfunctional relationship with her family and see how almost everyone around her feeds off her fame.
The darkness goes down smooth. As clever and and insightful Brat can be in observations about its characters, it's mostly interested in the jokes. The book really seems to find the darkness of the human soul fascinating and kinda hilarious - and that's about it. It's not a downer, but it left me feeling kinda empty (like Ms D, maybe?).
For me the artwork is the highlight, and the expressionistic feel it gives to the story. For instance - Ms D's drunken debauchery is represented by her body literally melting, before drying into a thin husk. She's only reconstituted by an intern applicant's praise and admiration.
tinaathena's review
5.0
Colours like fruit punch. An absurd, silly world I wish I could climb into. Great, cohesive set and would love to have some of these panels on my wall as a reminder to be a delinquent.
franceshaha's review
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
quite fun to look at
starnosedmole's review
5.0
Another acerbic and visually hypnotic graphic novel by Michael Deforge, poking fun at celebrity culture and renegades. Highly recommended.
hypops's review against another edition
2.0
After recently being disappointed by Michael DeForge’s earlier work, Ant Colony, I thought I’d give one of his more recent books a shot. But like Ant Colony, Brat is a derivative work whose style far exceeds its substance.
It reminds me a lot of Bojack Horseman, both in its main character and its overall insufferable-ness (I guess that means that if you’re into Bojack, you might dig this book). I am totally on board for sad-sack antiheroes, but this is just a sad person who has nothing to be sad about. I simply don’t care.
For a work about an aging “delinquent” artist who cannot recapture her youthful sense of rebellious purpose, Brat is also surprisingly devoid of politics. The main character had been an anti-establishment performance artist and graffiti writer in her youth. But as far as I can tell, even back then she never had any political convictions. So now, in the midst of her early-onset mid-life crisis, she whines incessantly about not having that youthful “spark” she once did. But from my perspective, she never had it to begin with. All she ever had was fame (or notoriety, depending on your perspective).
The main character’s supposed “juvenile delinquency” is all just a put-on. Even her time in a juvenile detention center seems to have been nothing more than an act of self-aggrandizing showmanship. She’s a person of privilege who had merely adopted the *appearance* of a politically radical artist. The reason she can’t recapture her youthful authenticity is because she *never had it in the first place!* So I can’t care about her because the thing she lost (her ostensible youthful “rebelliousness”) had only ever been a kind of privileged pose. It’s an appropriation of *actual* suffering for the sake of acting the part of an edgy street artist.
Ultimately, Brat is a book about a self-obsessed, privileged 30-something whining about no longer being a self-obsessed, privileged teenager. It’s the kind of work that reminds me what I disliked about ‘90s era indie comics (an era that I once heard a woman cartoonist describe as “comics about sad white dudes masturbating”). DeForge makes radical artistic resistance seem like just another “twee” form of self-indulgence. It’s a disservice to art, to politics, and to comics. I’m really not a fan of this book. And now, after reading two of his books, I can also confidently say that I’m no fan of DeForge’s either.
It reminds me a lot of Bojack Horseman, both in its main character and its overall insufferable-ness (I guess that means that if you’re into Bojack, you might dig this book). I am totally on board for sad-sack antiheroes, but this is just a sad person who has nothing to be sad about. I simply don’t care.
For a work about an aging “delinquent” artist who cannot recapture her youthful sense of rebellious purpose, Brat is also surprisingly devoid of politics. The main character had been an anti-establishment performance artist and graffiti writer in her youth. But as far as I can tell, even back then she never had any political convictions. So now, in the midst of her early-onset mid-life crisis, she whines incessantly about not having that youthful “spark” she once did. But from my perspective, she never had it to begin with. All she ever had was fame (or notoriety, depending on your perspective).
The main character’s supposed “juvenile delinquency” is all just a put-on. Even her time in a juvenile detention center seems to have been nothing more than an act of self-aggrandizing showmanship. She’s a person of privilege who had merely adopted the *appearance* of a politically radical artist. The reason she can’t recapture her youthful authenticity is because she *never had it in the first place!* So I can’t care about her because the thing she lost (her ostensible youthful “rebelliousness”) had only ever been a kind of privileged pose. It’s an appropriation of *actual* suffering for the sake of acting the part of an edgy street artist.
Ultimately, Brat is a book about a self-obsessed, privileged 30-something whining about no longer being a self-obsessed, privileged teenager. It’s the kind of work that reminds me what I disliked about ‘90s era indie comics (an era that I once heard a woman cartoonist describe as “comics about sad white dudes masturbating”). DeForge makes radical artistic resistance seem like just another “twee” form of self-indulgence. It’s a disservice to art, to politics, and to comics. I’m really not a fan of this book. And now, after reading two of his books, I can also confidently say that I’m no fan of DeForge’s either.