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A review by mediaevalmuse
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris
4.0
I was entirely unaware of this graphic novel until a friend/colleague of mine told me of its existence at a Women in Comics panel at my university. The title alone was enough to get me interested - I love weird creatures and horror, so I took to Karen (the narrator) immediately. Overall, I loved the reading experience - I couldn’t put the text down and I read it in a day. So, if you’re a person that loves mysteries, monsters, and (faux) memoirs, I’d highly recommend giving this a go.
Things I Liked
1. Art: The art in this graphic novel is stunning - the pages are meant to mimic the lined pages of a regular notebook, so the whole thing feels like a personal diary or journal that Karen scribbles in. On top of that, the drawings themselves are also fantastic - lot of cross-hatching that makes it feel like it has been drawn with a regular pen. Moreover, the style is haunting - because Karen has a particular obsession with monsters, her depiction of the world around her is particularly fantastical and uses a lot of dramatic lighting to make the images pop on the page.
2. Relationship Between Karen and Deeze: I loved the way Deeze interacted with Karen, and readers can very much see how much he loves his little sister. I especially loved the moments when they talked about art together and had secrets or jokes between them. Not only did it show that they genuinely had affection for each other, but it helped construct Deeze as a more complex character.
3. Role of Art: Sort of connected to my previous point - I loved when Karen would go to the Art Institute and look at paintings and when the covers of horror comics are reproduced as “chapter” headings (they aren’t labelled such, but they mark divisions). RE: the Art Institute - not only are those paintings brilliantly recreated in the graphic novel, but Karen “dives into” the paintings and interacts with the characters. It was a fun way to both see her connection to and love of art while also getting some insight into her inner psyche.
4. Self-Representation: Throughout the graphic novel, Karen draws herself as a werewolf. Later, we learn that Karen is a lesbian. By representing herself as a werewolf and everyone else as people, the graphic novel emphasizes both Karen’s feeling of being different based on her interests, but also a sense of Othering that surrounds lgbt+ people in the 1960s. It was moreover a brilliant move because Karen loves monsters, so whether or not her werewolf persona marks her as different, it’s a difference she enjoys.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Pileup of Negative Things: There are parts of this graphic novel that expressed so many negative things that it was somewhat overwhelming. For example, Anka’s taped testimony was a string of horrible life events, and some of the things happening in Karen’s life were also a little much when coupled with Anka’s past. Probably the things that weighed most on me were Anka’s history of sexual abuse combined with Karen getting away from a group of boys that were going to rape her, further combined with the fact that Deeze was a victim of statutory rape. All of it was a bit much for me, so I’d caution anyone who is sensitive to those things about this graphic novel.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in 1960s setting and history, pulp magazines, classic horror, mysteries, and murder. You might also like this book if you like I Kill Giants.
Things I Liked
1. Art: The art in this graphic novel is stunning - the pages are meant to mimic the lined pages of a regular notebook, so the whole thing feels like a personal diary or journal that Karen scribbles in. On top of that, the drawings themselves are also fantastic - lot of cross-hatching that makes it feel like it has been drawn with a regular pen. Moreover, the style is haunting - because Karen has a particular obsession with monsters, her depiction of the world around her is particularly fantastical and uses a lot of dramatic lighting to make the images pop on the page.
2. Relationship Between Karen and Deeze: I loved the way Deeze interacted with Karen, and readers can very much see how much he loves his little sister. I especially loved the moments when they talked about art together and had secrets or jokes between them. Not only did it show that they genuinely had affection for each other, but it helped construct Deeze as a more complex character.
3. Role of Art: Sort of connected to my previous point - I loved when Karen would go to the Art Institute and look at paintings and when the covers of horror comics are reproduced as “chapter” headings (they aren’t labelled such, but they mark divisions). RE: the Art Institute - not only are those paintings brilliantly recreated in the graphic novel, but Karen “dives into” the paintings and interacts with the characters. It was a fun way to both see her connection to and love of art while also getting some insight into her inner psyche.
4. Self-Representation: Throughout the graphic novel, Karen draws herself as a werewolf. Later, we learn that Karen is a lesbian. By representing herself as a werewolf and everyone else as people, the graphic novel emphasizes both Karen’s feeling of being different based on her interests, but also a sense of Othering that surrounds lgbt+ people in the 1960s. It was moreover a brilliant move because Karen loves monsters, so whether or not her werewolf persona marks her as different, it’s a difference she enjoys.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Pileup of Negative Things: There are parts of this graphic novel that expressed so many negative things that it was somewhat overwhelming. For example, Anka’s taped testimony was a string of horrible life events, and some of the things happening in Karen’s life were also a little much when coupled with Anka’s past. Probably the things that weighed most on me were Anka’s history of sexual abuse combined with Karen getting away from a group of boys that were going to rape her, further combined with the fact that Deeze was a victim of statutory rape. All of it was a bit much for me, so I’d caution anyone who is sensitive to those things about this graphic novel.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in 1960s setting and history, pulp magazines, classic horror, mysteries, and murder. You might also like this book if you like I Kill Giants.