A review by h_motionless
Here by Richard McGuire

adventurous reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Here achieves what a piece of prose or verse cannot - it depicts a singular space and the various occupiers of this space across history through simple yet beautiful graphics. Each page, and often several frames of each page, displays a different era showing the different ways in which the space was used, interacted with, or simply was the backdrop. There is some fascinating commentary here on loss, memory, the cycle of nature, a fear of modernisation, technological development, and colonisation, and every element of it is captivating and visually stunning. As for a cohesive narrative or character development, it can be argued that there isn’t one, but this graphic novel does not set out to achieve that. It explores humanity and nature’s occupation of physical space over time with such simplistic mastery that it makes you contemplate how the space in which you read the book was also used, but it’s more of a reflective piece providing food-for-thought, rather than a fictional piece of escapism.