Back

reviewed Night Fever by Jacob Phillips

Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Jacob Phillips: Night Fever (Hardcover, 2023, Image Comics) 4 stars

Who are you, really? Are you the things you do, or are you the person …

Most Beautiful Book Ever

4 stars

It certainly looks good - it may well be Sean and Jake Phillips' finest artistic hours respectively. I mean I've never seen comic or graphic novel artwork look this beautiful. Brubaker's story is certainly compelling and thoughtful - feeling part a meditation by the author and part happening to Jon/Griffin in a sometimes awake/sometimes not sleep-deprived fever dream. It does feel a little too quick a read in spite of the remarkable visuals (which deserve every award imaginable) and the non-ending leaves me a little disappointed (how much of this was even real - Fight Club style). As a noir-driven look at a man's midlife crisis though, caught between his success in an ordinary life and the fulfilment he craves, it's next level good, almost dangerously so. It does channel Fight Club, its willingness to be disturbing is welcome, but did leave me wanting a little more, despite the high page count.