Monica

Monica is a work that is concerned about the human desire to look for an explanation for the universe. It doesn't matter what it is, as long as we can find the answer we think we can take comfort in that.

The graphic novel is composed of two parts of, ironically, uncertain relation to each other. One follows Monica as she grows and ages, facing abandonment, failed relationships, family death, the hollowness of success. She is constantly looking for answers, both knowingly and unknowingly, for why these things happen to her. It doesn't matter how well her life is going because the randomness of chance and the miseries of her own life and several bizarre and unexplainable events are constantly telling her that there is something meaningful about her and her life that explains everything that is happening to her. The pain and misery that she brings upon herself in the constant pursuit of these answers are secondary to her absolute certainty that these answers are worth it.

The second half of the book is composed of various comics in the style of EC horror comics. Seemingly disconnected, characters and locations from Monica's slowly start popping up in these horror narratives. The relation between these stories could be as simple these being the stories Monica is writing later in life, or perhaps hint at a greater world than the one Monica interacts with. However, sometimes these stories actually give greater insight into these side characters. And events in Monica's story make it even more difficult to make a clean distinction on what is really going on.

I believe Clowes chose horror comics specifically to tie into the greater ideas of the work. Like Monica trying to find a reason behind her life, Horror frequently provides that kind of answer. There are greater forces behind the world than what you or I can understand. Dark designs that exist simply to foil humanity, break our will, cause bloodshed, etc. There is a kind of comfort or escape that can be found in these narratives, which is what I think Clowes is getting at. That even an Evil behind things can be more comfortable than uncertainty.

Clowes's art is stunning, with a very clean linework and distinctive look to his figures. He also puts work into using page yellowing to hint at, possibly, the greater or lesser reality of what we are reading. As well, as I write this down I realize that it needs to be said that there is brilliance in using the book as a physical object to create uncertainty in the reader just as the work inside does the same.

I definitely recommend it. It might not be the best starting place but I don't think it's necessarily the wrong one.