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cartermon4's review
challenging
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide attempt
Minor: Vomit, Self harm, and Mental illness
celina25's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
jekutree's review
5.0
Michael Deforge has a great 2019. He released Leaving Richard’s Valley which was a really ambitious, lively project. It had a long running plot, an interesting world, loving characters and an underlying message that was delivered strongly throughout with his signature art style and sense of humor. Deforge takes that momentum and drops Familiar Face. All the best aspects of Leaving Richard’s Valley into one short, graphic novel.
Don’t let the length of Familiar Face fool you though, Deforge delivers his tightest plot yet. Though I’d consider this book pretty abstract, probably more abstract than anything else he’s done (from what I’ve read) the narrative remains clear and the panels convey the story despite being abstract as hell. For the most part, Deforge maintains the 4 panel grid of Leaving Richard’s Valley (now LRV for the rest of the review) while also throwing these cool triangular panel layouts to convey this cool short stories.
The story follows an unnamed protagonist who lives in this extremely technologically advanced world. People are constantly “updating” and changing their form and the city the character lives in is all produced and controlled by a computer. The computer will randomly update the city to change roads around, buildings around, rooms around etc. This actually leads to the deaths and pain of the working class that are using the city streets day to day. The main character of the story is someone that reads complaints. To maintain that the computers that run the city have a human element to them they have people read “complaints”. I thought these complaints would be about the city or how it affects them but it instead tells various stories of different characters in the book, random people with different problems and a lot of anti-corporate/capitalist scenarios. These are done in the triangular panel layouts I was talking about before. They serve as little asides from the main story and are always interesting to read. The main character also has a girlfriend who ups and leaves one day and the main plot is her trying to find her and get her back. The girlfriend is suspected to get in with this terrorist cell that runs throughout the story but I won’t give much more away. Deforge world builds and paints this hyper capitalist/corporate society in such a bad way. It’s definitely not anywhere you’d want to live, he does a great job illustrating his problems with modern capitalism and dependence on technology. Those are the two major running themes throughout and I think they’re both delivered pretty effectively. He explores both of these through more and more abstract concepts like work queues, roommates for hire and how the city changes to disadvantage those of a lower class. We never see how the rich is affected by any of this, but I don’t think Deforge cares or wants to explore that. He’s very much centered on the working class and the poor throughout the story.
Familiar Face paints a really strong picture of how the more technologically dependent we get, the more our society will hurt because of it. Deforge paints vivid symbolism of problems we all live with day to day and might not consciously think of. Michael Deforge remains one of the most electrifying cartoonists working today and he’s definitely one of my favorites.
10/10
Don’t let the length of Familiar Face fool you though, Deforge delivers his tightest plot yet. Though I’d consider this book pretty abstract, probably more abstract than anything else he’s done (from what I’ve read) the narrative remains clear and the panels convey the story despite being abstract as hell. For the most part, Deforge maintains the 4 panel grid of Leaving Richard’s Valley (now LRV for the rest of the review) while also throwing these cool triangular panel layouts to convey this cool short stories.
The story follows an unnamed protagonist who lives in this extremely technologically advanced world. People are constantly “updating” and changing their form and the city the character lives in is all produced and controlled by a computer. The computer will randomly update the city to change roads around, buildings around, rooms around etc. This actually leads to the deaths and pain of the working class that are using the city streets day to day. The main character of the story is someone that reads complaints. To maintain that the computers that run the city have a human element to them they have people read “complaints”. I thought these complaints would be about the city or how it affects them but it instead tells various stories of different characters in the book, random people with different problems and a lot of anti-corporate/capitalist scenarios. These are done in the triangular panel layouts I was talking about before. They serve as little asides from the main story and are always interesting to read. The main character also has a girlfriend who ups and leaves one day and the main plot is her trying to find her and get her back. The girlfriend is suspected to get in with this terrorist cell that runs throughout the story but I won’t give much more away. Deforge world builds and paints this hyper capitalist/corporate society in such a bad way. It’s definitely not anywhere you’d want to live, he does a great job illustrating his problems with modern capitalism and dependence on technology. Those are the two major running themes throughout and I think they’re both delivered pretty effectively. He explores both of these through more and more abstract concepts like work queues, roommates for hire and how the city changes to disadvantage those of a lower class. We never see how the rich is affected by any of this, but I don’t think Deforge cares or wants to explore that. He’s very much centered on the working class and the poor throughout the story.
Familiar Face paints a really strong picture of how the more technologically dependent we get, the more our society will hurt because of it. Deforge paints vivid symbolism of problems we all live with day to day and might not consciously think of. Michael Deforge remains one of the most electrifying cartoonists working today and he’s definitely one of my favorites.
10/10
trulybooked's review
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
4.5
thunderdone's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
An incredible read. I love this style of art, the hedonism to it, how even talking about misery there's so much life to the art, how that reflects the struggle of the main character. I love the use of the second person pov in the dialogue. Wonderful.
jemmania's review
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Deforge paints a futuristic hellscape in which every aspect of daily life is strangled & weighed down by needless bureaucratic meddling. This constant interference by a totalitarian state effects every aspect of life, including the fundamentals of identity & relationships. Desperate revolutionary struggles only seem to push society further & further into chaos. Resolution seems futheat away at the end. Is resolution just a made up term, destined to be updated and refashioned into something unrecognizable?
ian_se's review
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75