Unlike my last post, where I struggled to come up with even one comic that made me cry, I had the opposite problem here. Almost every comic I remember connects to someone I know or knew at the time. I decided to pick a comic that I basically only remember in relation to another person. Someone who is quite dear to me.
To be frank, I remember that Dash Shaw’s Bodyworld has something to do with a horrific near future and a magic plant of some kind. I think the main character studies plants? I could be getting it mixed up with Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation, which I read a few years after Bodyworld, but I think I’m right. The only thing I can really recall about this book is that it has a lot of Dash Shaw’s famously beautiful and oddly crafted images in it. Plot beats and character names are all blank. Oh! The other thing I remember is that it’s read vertically, with the pages hanging down out of the book so that when you read it the pages sprawl out like fat noodles.
It’s a beautiful piece of work, and I remember it somewhat fondly if only because of the person who recommended it to me. This and David Mazzucchelli’s Asterios Polyp were some of the first big, more experimental comics I can remember reading. So although I don’t remember much about it, I can at least say it was important to me for that reason. Give me a break it’s been like nine years since I’ve read it, and I didn’t completely understand it the first time either.
I would recommend this book both to other and, honestly, to myself for a re-read. I’m not sure if the libraries around here have a copy, but it intrigues me enough to think that another reading would stick with me better. If you recommended this to me, you know who you are. Thank you!
Evvycology 
Reblogged this on Critical Hit!! and commented:
it was meeeeeee