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Highbone Theater
Existential stoners go on a suspenseful quest in this ambitious graphic novel from the South African cartoonist. In Joe Daly's most ambitious stand-alone graphic novel, Palmer ― wallflower, mystic seeker and paper mill worker ― moves into a new apartment with his outwardly self-assured and womanizing friend. Events take a peculiar turn as Palmer befriends an iconoclastic co-worker, Billy Boy, and plunges head-long into the mysterious and sinister world of sorcery, psychological operations, subterranean organizations and wild-goose chases. Black & white with partial color
584 pages, Paperback
First published May 21, 2016
About the author
Joe Daly
43 books23 followersJoseph 'Joe' Daly is a cartoonist from South Africa, born in London, UK in 1979.
Daly studied animation for two years at Cape Town's City Varsity College, then shifted his attention to writing and drawing comics. His stories have regularly appeared in the South African underground comics magazine Bittercomix. Internationally, Daly's comics are usually published by Fantagraphics Books in English and L'Association in French. His books include the collection Scrublands, the series The Red Monkey and Dungeon Quest, and Highbone Theater.
Daly studied animation for two years at Cape Town's City Varsity College, then shifted his attention to writing and drawing comics. His stories have regularly appeared in the South African underground comics magazine Bittercomix. Internationally, Daly's comics are usually published by Fantagraphics Books in English and L'Association in French. His books include the collection Scrublands, the series The Red Monkey and Dungeon Quest, and Highbone Theater.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
November 12, 2016
I love the comics by South African cartoonist Joe Daly, and Highbone Theater is his most ambitious and complex effort to date. It’s about a shy 30-year-old paper mill worker and stoner who moves out of his parents’ house to share an apartment with a rather obnoxious macho dude, and ultimately about his struggles to find a place in this world: “It’s time to take off your water wings and swim in the deep end now, Sonny...” Rooted in the tradition of the undergrounds but guided by its very own, deliciously unpredictable rhythm, Highbone Theater feels in turn breezy and unsettling, trippy and pedestrian, gullible and paranoid, friendly and strange. Highly recommended to fans of the groovier kind of alternative comic!
August 17, 2017
Books like Highbone Theater make me wonder what motivates artists like Joe Daly. Is he just doing such staggering amounts of hallucinogens/weed that he really believes what he’s doing is a masterpiece of sorts and therefore worth the effort? Because this is a 560+ page comic - an amazing achievement in itself - that’s about the mundane adventures of a twentysomething stoner who doesn’t really do anything!
Palmer is a socially awkward stoner with a dickish meathead flatmate. Palmer hooks up with a girl. He takes a lot of acid, weed, etc. and goes on weird trips. He has strange dreams. And the book sort of just peters out. You’d think with a project this size that Daly would have a point! Or did he just start it and hope some meaning would emerge somewhere down the line?
I love Daly’s art style, which is very detailed with a strong line. The characters are uniquely proportioned in an exaggerated fashion - the men are very muscular, the women are very curvy - for seemingly no reason besides aesthetics, but it works. The spare use of colour is excellent so that when you get a colour sequence, the colours really pop.
Some of the scenes are fleetingly compelling. Billy Boy, whom I’d thought was a one-joke, throwaway character (he has a pipe in his butthole for farts to escape), has an interesting arc and Palmer’s search for him in the latter half of the book was exciting - before it fizzles out into nothing, like everything else here.
Maybe Highbone Theater is too avant-garde for me and I’m just missing the point but it felt like an overindulgent, meandering and sprawling mess that really needed focus and direction. Instead, I recommend checking out Joe Daly’s better comic, The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book, which is far more coherent and entertaining.
Palmer is a socially awkward stoner with a dickish meathead flatmate. Palmer hooks up with a girl. He takes a lot of acid, weed, etc. and goes on weird trips. He has strange dreams. And the book sort of just peters out. You’d think with a project this size that Daly would have a point! Or did he just start it and hope some meaning would emerge somewhere down the line?
I love Daly’s art style, which is very detailed with a strong line. The characters are uniquely proportioned in an exaggerated fashion - the men are very muscular, the women are very curvy - for seemingly no reason besides aesthetics, but it works. The spare use of colour is excellent so that when you get a colour sequence, the colours really pop.
Some of the scenes are fleetingly compelling. Billy Boy, whom I’d thought was a one-joke, throwaway character (he has a pipe in his butthole for farts to escape), has an interesting arc and Palmer’s search for him in the latter half of the book was exciting - before it fizzles out into nothing, like everything else here.
Maybe Highbone Theater is too avant-garde for me and I’m just missing the point but it felt like an overindulgent, meandering and sprawling mess that really needed focus and direction. Instead, I recommend checking out Joe Daly’s better comic, The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book, which is far more coherent and entertaining.
September 3, 2016
For such a hefty little tome, this reads fairly quickly. Obviously, it's on the weird side, but it's surprisingly normal as well. Palmer works in a paper mill and lives at home. His friends seem to be, for the most part, hardcore macho types, while Palmer is more of an intellectual, or at least an independent thinker. He's talked into sharing an apartment with one of his friends, Perry. Perry's into loud music, parties, beer, and scoring with "chicks." Palmer is more of an introvert, so it doesn't seem likely that the arrangement will last. Over the course of the book, he finds a girlfriend and becomes fascinated by one of his coworkers, Billy Boy, a bona fide eccentric with a taste for convoluted conspiracy theories ...
Okay, so not completely normal, but there are often scenes where, if you squint a bit, it looks like reality. Palmer is trying to learn to play the chubush, which may be a real musical instrument for all I know, but I kind of suspect it isn't. His favorite TV show is Space Journ' which vaguely resembles Star Trek. And then there are the dream sequences and drug hallucinations and so on. The effect is something like that of Alex Cox's classic cult film, Repo Man, maybe with a bit of Charles Burns' Black Hole (though markedly less creepy.) It's reality viewed through a prism, or in a distorted mirror. Daly's artwork looks a bit like E.C. Segar by way of Chester Brown, very nice. His figures have ridiculously bulky bodies with tiny heads, but that's to some degree by design. Notice that, as Palmer engages in more and more intellectual pursuits, he starts to lose body mass. I'm sure that's intentional.
This is a fun book, if a bit trippy at times. Daly's characters have more depth than first impressions would imply, and the story is quite engaging. Recommended.
Okay, so not completely normal, but there are often scenes where, if you squint a bit, it looks like reality. Palmer is trying to learn to play the chubush, which may be a real musical instrument for all I know, but I kind of suspect it isn't. His favorite TV show is Space Journ' which vaguely resembles Star Trek. And then there are the dream sequences and drug hallucinations and so on. The effect is something like that of Alex Cox's classic cult film, Repo Man, maybe with a bit of Charles Burns' Black Hole (though markedly less creepy.) It's reality viewed through a prism, or in a distorted mirror. Daly's artwork looks a bit like E.C. Segar by way of Chester Brown, very nice. His figures have ridiculously bulky bodies with tiny heads, but that's to some degree by design. Notice that, as Palmer engages in more and more intellectual pursuits, he starts to lose body mass. I'm sure that's intentional.
This is a fun book, if a bit trippy at times. Daly's characters have more depth than first impressions would imply, and the story is quite engaging. Recommended.
January 3, 2017
Perhaps Daly's most ambitious and sophisticated story to date. A wonderfully crafted growth narrative with a sense of humor that is more understated than you will find in his earlier books. One of my favorites of 2016.
June 12, 2022
It seemed obvious that he was told to wrap it up because once he dives into the serious action of the book...
Especially because of that "one year earlier" scene at the beginning that sets up the flashback- only to abandon that timeline entirely.
Especially because of that "one year earlier" scene at the beginning that sets up the flashback- only to abandon that timeline entirely.
July 21, 2021
So funny and very real.
re-read 7/17: Genius haha
re-read 7/17: Genius haha
June 20, 2022
This could be either a stoner fantasy or a work of genius. Maybe both.
December 30, 2024
Me sentí confrontado por la falta de sentido que tenía la vida de Palmer y su esfuerzo por darle uno. La paranoia personal y la paranoia sobre el todo conectadas a través de símbolos y experiencias dan lugar una forma enrevesada pero, quizá, efectiva de buscarse un lugar en la perspectiva amplia de las cosas. Termina siendo optimista la forma en la que bien que mal eso se logra a partir del esfuerzo individual de Palmer, al final el personaje es diferente. Cambió.
El humor que surge de la tensión entre lo extraordinario y lo groseramente cotidiano es genial.
Sin duda una mirada muy masculina al problema de hacerse cargo de uno mismo con las herramientas que están a nuestra disposición.
El humor que surge de la tensión entre lo extraordinario y lo groseramente cotidiano es genial.
Sin duda una mirada muy masculina al problema de hacerse cargo de uno mismo con las herramientas que están a nuestra disposición.
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July 7, 2021Thanks Misch
September 25, 2016
I just grabbed the book from the local library where I live because they go a really good job stocking new graphic novels. It was a nice adventure. Honestly I love the art more than anything. The great color for the color sequences and inking job was superb. His backgrounds were excellent and took you to a unique place. I did find the characters really annoying at first. I almost didn't like any of them except for Palmer and even he at times drove me a little nuts. Perhaps it's because we know some of these guys and their way of interacting with each other and the world. At the end I felt a kind of sadness even though I almost hated these guys because that time they shared will no longer exist. I think Joe Daly did a great conscious job and perhaps a trick in storytelling which I didn't mind. I think there is a deliberate love of weird artists from the past that influenced this book. I would say Fletch Hanks "Stardust" Comics, Basil Wolverton "Space Hawk" and a little Charles Burns. I love all of those comics so that made this book hard to put down. It was a nice ride and would like to come back to this world again in the future. I would probably not mind owning the book (I have too many at the moment to buy it).
January 16, 2017
An introvert who fancies himself a "thinker" slowly falls into himself as he tries prove himself better than the world around him. Very Charles Burns-ian at times, but still very unique.
September 13, 2023
Highbone Theater is about an extremely introverted paper mill worker named Palmer who indulges in psychoactive drugs and gets pushed around by his obnoxious roommate. The narrative dips between the mundane and the surreal with us getting glimpses of Palmer's day to day life of him working his menial labor job and struggling to fit in with his meathead co-workers and then shifting unpredictably to his bizarre hallucinogenic dreams involving a high concept sci-fi show. At its core, I surmise that Highbone Theater is about Palmer trying to find his way in the world, but I felt like the meandering storytelling style got a little in the way of getting the point across fully. Perhaps a re-read will have me reconsider the narrative choices here, but as it stands this book felt longer than it needed to be.
Daly's artwork is absolutely splendid and works really well for the surreal drug trip vibe this story was going for. The bold lines are complemented well by the bursts of color and the sharp contrasts between the detailed figures and plain backgrounds were well executed. The exaggerated features of the characters were also quite appealing, giving the book an off-kilter feel that was perfect. I do plan on doing a re-read of this at some point since I was very impressed with Daly's cartooning here.
Daly's artwork is absolutely splendid and works really well for the surreal drug trip vibe this story was going for. The bold lines are complemented well by the bursts of color and the sharp contrasts between the detailed figures and plain backgrounds were well executed. The exaggerated features of the characters were also quite appealing, giving the book an off-kilter feel that was perfect. I do plan on doing a re-read of this at some point since I was very impressed with Daly's cartooning here.
June 12, 2020
Definitely recommend this if you like Joe Daly's art. The pages are small, but there is a lot of art on showcase here. The main character Palmer is kind of a flaky shut-in who has anger issues. The friends he spends time with are all douchbags that think of nothing but booze and sex. Palmer looks like he is in his 40's, but acts like a 19 year old who has just moved out of his parents house. His world is populated with people with giant arms and legs and creepy little heads.
Some crazy surreal visuals in this volume and the story only really marginally matters. At least that's what my take is. Sometimes scenes seem disconnected and this disconnect is usually explained as a dream. But that's not always the case. There is one section where Palmer goes on a mission to find his friend. And this felt like a return to one of the Dungeon Quest stories. Hopefully Daly will go back to that series next.
Some crazy surreal visuals in this volume and the story only really marginally matters. At least that's what my take is. Sometimes scenes seem disconnected and this disconnect is usually explained as a dream. But that's not always the case. There is one section where Palmer goes on a mission to find his friend. And this felt like a return to one of the Dungeon Quest stories. Hopefully Daly will go back to that series next.
May 10, 2020
Chyba oczekiwałem więcej. Daly ma świetną kreskę. Grubaśna linia, karykaturalne i nieproporcjonalne postacie, intensywne kolory (w tych odjechanych fragmentach) - robią wrażenie. Sama historia nie porwała, choć może dać do myślenia. Z jednej strony niezbyt ciekawa codzienność nieciekawego gościa i jego jeszcze mniej ciekawych kumpli, a z drugiej narkotyczne wizje, odjazdy i sytuacje gdy rzeczywistość miesza się z psychodelicznymi wyobrażeniami. Są teorie spiskowe, sporo humoru na granicy żenady i pewnie jakieś pole do interpretacji, ale bez wyraźnego ukierunkowania. Niestety miałem wrażenie, że historia zmierza donikąd i raczej niczyjego świata nie zmieni.
October 30, 2023
This is one of those graphic novels that really captures psychedelic moods, but at the expense of story and characters. I never really connected with the main character, Palmer, because he seemed easily manipulated by conspiracy theorists and didn't seem to grow as a character. Also, there was a lot of toxic masculinity/sexist and racist behavior by pretty much all of the characters but nothing really came of it. I'll probably forget this book quickly because I didn't really understand it, if there even are things I am suppose to understand after reading this.
September 22, 2025
Palmer is an introverted, eclectic, and aimless young stoner who can't seem to find much in the way of belonging or community. His interests in esoteric philosophy and Mongolian chubush music has little traction with his boisterous "friends" who seem solely interested in shark hunting, drinking, and chicks. As he befriends a conspiritorial coworker, he starts to develop theories about the forces that control the world and finds out he might be onto something.
This was a wonderfully silly stoner comic, equal parts juvenile humor and absurd surrealism. Grounded scenes centered around toilet humor will transition to fever dreams about subterranean hellscapes and gorillas stealing alien artifacts. It's all pretty gloriously stupid and a surprisingly quick read because of it, despite it's near 600 page count. The aesthetic really sells the tone, with loose and cartoony pencilling that imbues each scene with a carefree attitude. I especially enjoyed the character design which depicts nearly every human as a jacked bro with a tiny head. The sparse use of color was also a nice touch, used to embellish the more surreal sequences and amplify the absurdity.
This was a wonderfully silly stoner comic, equal parts juvenile humor and absurd surrealism. Grounded scenes centered around toilet humor will transition to fever dreams about subterranean hellscapes and gorillas stealing alien artifacts. It's all pretty gloriously stupid and a surprisingly quick read because of it, despite it's near 600 page count. The aesthetic really sells the tone, with loose and cartoony pencilling that imbues each scene with a carefree attitude. I especially enjoyed the character design which depicts nearly every human as a jacked bro with a tiny head. The sparse use of color was also a nice touch, used to embellish the more surreal sequences and amplify the absurdity.
January 13, 2019
If you’re looking for a straight-forward plot and clear chapters, you’re in the wrong place. This book reads more like a basket of thoughts hurled at a wall, slowly oozing their way to the floor. It’s wonderful, and confusing, and depressing, and inspiring. As someone who likes art that explores what the world is, without giving an actual answer, this is a great addition to the conversation.
September 29, 2022
this comic rules
the beefy dudes and far out dream sequences, the charles burns and crumb inspired artwork, that still remains very much daly's own, every page felt like a different sequence which meant you never knew way the story was going
the beefy dudes and far out dream sequences, the charles burns and crumb inspired artwork, that still remains very much daly's own, every page felt like a different sequence which meant you never knew way the story was going
December 20, 2017
Epic, weird, and with a surprising depth, I love this guys work!
July 22, 2022
This book was strange. It’s like peeking into the mind of a crazy person that I don’t want to give my time to. But amazing cartooning. Incredible pacing, I flew through 600 pages.
March 2, 2017
Nothing - no movie, no song, no other book - has ever come so close to simulating the profound neurological consequences of rationalizing a bonafide mushroom trip.
August 28, 2016
Surreal yet grounded, unsettling yet normal, Joe Daly’s work is some of the strangest in comics. He sets his tales in suburbia amongst an assortment of drop-outs, slackers and oddities, all leading humdrum lives, and then odd stuff happens, often on a heroic scale. Highbone Theatre is all of that.
In an added twist of strangeness, all the male characters are enormous hulking beasts with tiny heads, as if everyone works out constantly with the women not too dissimilar. So from the second page things are off kilter and they never quite right themselves from there on in. We’re invited to follow the life of Palmer, a quiet young man who begins to take matters into his own hands by finally leaving home and renting a room with a friend. Except, something weird is going on that involves mysticism, conspiracies, and falling in love. We get to follow Palmer on a journey of self discovery as he fulfils his destiny, but it’s one paved with very unusual steps, mysterious characters and a dream-like narrative that never seems entirely clear as to where it’s taking us. Inexplicably, though, it remains captivating.
The, book, and it’s a mighty book at well over 500 pages, is mostly black and white, a medium Daly is very comfortable with, but for some of the more outlandish scenes he uses garish colours to heighten the contrast between Palmer’s experiences. I don’t doubt that the book won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I love its unpredictable, daring attitude to the storytelling. If you like Charles Burns or Dave Cooper then you’re going to like this.
In an added twist of strangeness, all the male characters are enormous hulking beasts with tiny heads, as if everyone works out constantly with the women not too dissimilar. So from the second page things are off kilter and they never quite right themselves from there on in. We’re invited to follow the life of Palmer, a quiet young man who begins to take matters into his own hands by finally leaving home and renting a room with a friend. Except, something weird is going on that involves mysticism, conspiracies, and falling in love. We get to follow Palmer on a journey of self discovery as he fulfils his destiny, but it’s one paved with very unusual steps, mysterious characters and a dream-like narrative that never seems entirely clear as to where it’s taking us. Inexplicably, though, it remains captivating.
The, book, and it’s a mighty book at well over 500 pages, is mostly black and white, a medium Daly is very comfortable with, but for some of the more outlandish scenes he uses garish colours to heighten the contrast between Palmer’s experiences. I don’t doubt that the book won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I love its unpredictable, daring attitude to the storytelling. If you like Charles Burns or Dave Cooper then you’re going to like this.
February 8, 2017
One of my favorite books of 2016. Joe Daly is an underrated genius of comedy and comics about "men's issues"
I spend about 20 minutes talking about how great Highbone is with Sammy Harkham here: http://studygroupcomics.com/main/proc...
I spend about 20 minutes talking about how great Highbone is with Sammy Harkham here: http://studygroupcomics.com/main/proc...
August 31, 2016
I feel like I knew this guy, once. Palmer is a guy who doesn’t quite have his crap together yet. He’s still trying to figure out who he is, what he’s supposed to be doing, and how to relate to others. He figures step one might be to move out of his folk’s basement, but moving into an apartment with one of his friends could lead the opposite direction. He starts to realize that his friends may not have his back either.
Instead he starts hanging out with another guy he met through work, who, like Palmer, has a different view of life than the average dude. But, that might not be all it’s cracked up to be either, sometimes an outsider is only that, not a sage or a leader.
Lots of dicks. I don't know. I liked the illustrations and could understand, if not sympathize, with Palmer.
Instead he starts hanging out with another guy he met through work, who, like Palmer, has a different view of life than the average dude. But, that might not be all it’s cracked up to be either, sometimes an outsider is only that, not a sage or a leader.
Lots of dicks. I don't know. I liked the illustrations and could understand, if not sympathize, with Palmer.
August 11, 2016
Gentle giant, Palmer, gets introspective and deals with his bro-y friends, dating and his sense of self. Incredible illustrations. One of my favorites of 2016. Fantagraphics, you are winning me back.
September 13, 2016
total wacky gorpola~~ enjoy
October 30, 2016
Has a Jim Woodring feel. Other than that, really innovative and unique and strangely funny.
February 27, 2018
Hey what to read a graphic novel about drugs, weird acid trips, constant sex, allusions to 9/11, and non-sequiter conversations? No? Didn't think so.
January 20, 2019
The artwork is an intriguing mix of Thimble Theatre, Robert Crumb and Charles Burns, with a peculiar distortion of the male anatomy at the fore, at once homoerotic and outlandish. Unfortunately, it is the only intriguing thing about this voluminous book with an ultra-redundant and trivial narrative, and that becomes all too clear hundreds of pages before it reaches its cop-ut David-Lynch-mumbo-jumbo ending.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews