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A review by hollowspine
A Body Beneath: Collecting Issues of the Comic Book Series "Lose" by Michael DeForge
4.0
Lose /looz/
verb
1. be deprived of or cease to have or retain (something).
2. become unable to find (something or someone.)
3. fail to win (a game or contest).
4. earn less (money) than one is spending or has spent.
A Body Beneath collects DeForge's series of short comics, Lose #2-5. As one might expect many of the comics explore themes of loss. All with Deforge's...and here I pause once again. I was going to say grotesque, but then felt it couldn't encompass what I meant, since although I was disturbed, I was also drawn into the artwork. So I went back to the dictionary and found a wikipedia entry that helpfully said, "grotesque may also refer to something that simultaneously invokes in an audience a feeling of uncomfortable bizarreness as well as empathic pity."
So, it turns out grotesque is the right term, in fact it conveys how I feel very well. As much as as I was disturbed by the events of Dogs 2070, I also empathized with and pitied the characters, even now I recall the feelings of peace during the gliding scene, only to be struck down in the midst of reverie by the cruel indignities of life. Or to suggest one's weird brother is a psycho only the receive a face fungus in return and even later discover that one's new best friend only wants to lay eggs in one's face and take over the world. Sigh.
I also really enjoyed the portrait of Canadian Royals. Sometimes I too feel as if I'm wearing a huge constrictive outfit which I cannot, under strict rules, take off. I'm sure we all feel that way at times.
When I looked up the meaning of the word "Lose" I was reminded of the things I lost, the times I failed and the drain of resources and time I can never get back. Luckily, A Body Beneath, though occasionally echoing those thoughts was not a loss, but a gain.
verb
1. be deprived of or cease to have or retain (something).
2. become unable to find (something or someone.)
3. fail to win (a game or contest).
4. earn less (money) than one is spending or has spent.
A Body Beneath collects DeForge's series of short comics, Lose #2-5. As one might expect many of the comics explore themes of loss. All with Deforge's...and here I pause once again. I was going to say grotesque, but then felt it couldn't encompass what I meant, since although I was disturbed, I was also drawn into the artwork. So I went back to the dictionary and found a wikipedia entry that helpfully said, "grotesque may also refer to something that simultaneously invokes in an audience a feeling of uncomfortable bizarreness as well as empathic pity."
So, it turns out grotesque is the right term, in fact it conveys how I feel very well. As much as as I was disturbed by the events of Dogs 2070, I also empathized with and pitied the characters, even now I recall the feelings of peace during the gliding scene, only to be struck down in the midst of reverie by the cruel indignities of life. Or to suggest one's weird brother is a psycho only the receive a face fungus in return and even later discover that one's new best friend only wants to lay eggs in one's face and take over the world. Sigh.
I also really enjoyed the portrait of Canadian Royals. Sometimes I too feel as if I'm wearing a huge constrictive outfit which I cannot, under strict rules, take off. I'm sure we all feel that way at times.
When I looked up the meaning of the word "Lose" I was reminded of the things I lost, the times I failed and the drain of resources and time I can never get back. Luckily, A Body Beneath, though occasionally echoing those thoughts was not a loss, but a gain.