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Very Casual
Culled from mini comics, online comics, and anthology contributions, Very Casual collects notable short stories from Michael DeForge's prolific oeuvre. Included are stories about litter gangs, meat-filled snowmen, righteous cops, beagle/human hybrids, and forest-bound drag queens.
152 pages, Paperback
First published April 30, 2013
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1019 people want to read
About the author
Michael DeForge
70 books424 followersMichael DeForge lives in Toronto, Ontario. His comics and illustrations have been featured in Jacobin, The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Believer, The Walrus and Maisonneuve Magazine. He worked as a designer on Adventure Time for six seasons. His published books include Very Casual, A Body Beneath, Ant Colony, First Year Healthy, Dressing, Big Kids, Sticks Angelica, Folk Hero and A Western World.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews
February 18, 2015
It is neither praise nor criticism to comment that this is heavy in the neck penis department.
February 2, 2015
Oh Canada, Oh Canada,
your horrors are too much to bear.
I can only assume you violently tortured and murdered Michael Deforge after realizing all the damning Intel he has published (in graphic novel format) about your multitudinous acts of atrocities. There is nothing casual about Very Casual.
The truth about the Spotting Deer, which may resemble said animal but is in actuality a cognizant, terrestrial slug which can be harvested for malleable meat that is susceptible to the power of suggestion—deer-slug meat turning into bacon on command!
Want to talk about gangs? An outbreak of litter gangs who worship the individual’s power to mass pollute! Vicious outlaw bikers who sacrifice their savagely won spoils to sentient inter-dimensional portals!
Interactive tentacle, S/M porn right in your very living room!
Snowmen whose flesh can be sliced from the living body and consumed for an extreme psychotropic high!
People with beagles for torsos!
Libertines having incestuous one-night stands with their alternate reality selves, and then never bothering to call back!
A foursome of purulent, apodal, gourd-shaped mutants that had a short-lived career as an underground rock band out of Ottawa! So their music may have been underappreciated at the time, but they got all the hot alt chicks. Unfair!
Unauthorized versions of Spiderman comics with Peter Parker’s sweet, old Aunt May getting banged by Doc Ock!
Oh Canada, Oh Canada,
you are a sick taste in my mouth.
your horrors are too much to bear.
I can only assume you violently tortured and murdered Michael Deforge after realizing all the damning Intel he has published (in graphic novel format) about your multitudinous acts of atrocities. There is nothing casual about Very Casual.
The truth about the Spotting Deer, which may resemble said animal but is in actuality a cognizant, terrestrial slug which can be harvested for malleable meat that is susceptible to the power of suggestion—deer-slug meat turning into bacon on command!
Want to talk about gangs? An outbreak of litter gangs who worship the individual’s power to mass pollute! Vicious outlaw bikers who sacrifice their savagely won spoils to sentient inter-dimensional portals!
Interactive tentacle, S/M porn right in your very living room!
Snowmen whose flesh can be sliced from the living body and consumed for an extreme psychotropic high!
People with beagles for torsos!
Libertines having incestuous one-night stands with their alternate reality selves, and then never bothering to call back!
A foursome of purulent, apodal, gourd-shaped mutants that had a short-lived career as an underground rock band out of Ottawa! So their music may have been underappreciated at the time, but they got all the hot alt chicks. Unfair!
Unauthorized versions of Spiderman comics with Peter Parker’s sweet, old Aunt May getting banged by Doc Ock!
Oh Canada, Oh Canada,
you are a sick taste in my mouth.
August 29, 2022
Most of the pieces are relatively short, so the stories are obviously not as developed as some of DeForge's later work. But there are already hints of the Evenson-ian paranoid narratives (see the first strip in Cop Comix) that he's shown later. A lot of the concepts and artwork here are just total mindfuck alien, some of the most gloriously bizarre I've seen from DeForge (and really, anywhere). The overall flow of the wordless pieces reminds me a bit of Jim Woodring's gentler surreal ambles, but sex and body horror are often at the forefront. A lot of this is queasy and hilarious at the same time.
DeForge had quite a few books published in the last few years, but I haven't seen anything this year. Hope there's new work soon.
DeForge had quite a few books published in the last few years, but I haven't seen anything this year. Hope there's new work soon.
August 27, 2016
Another great one from DeForge. This one has some pretty weird stuff in it. The drawing style is unusual, slightly surreal and even abstract at times. It is even occasionally a bit crass; and obviously not for the easily offended. The stories are wonderful and well strange and meandering. I loved it so this one hits the best reads pile also. 5 stars.
December 16, 2022
I've started going through DeForge's back catalog - still intrigued, since his more Lynchian stories are always so bizarre - but too many of these were just kind of nonsensical and some downright grotesque.
January 8, 2016
This book by Canadian cartoonist Michael Deforge is a great showcase for his talent; still in his mid-20's, I'd rank him with the very best cartoonists in Canada, esteemed names like Chester Brown, Dave Cooper, Seth. In fact, the level of insight, imagination, the utter mastery of various styles, most of which bear the stamp of his unique vision, puts him in the company of the very best in the world (which, somewhat redundantly, includes the Canadians mentioned above): Burns, Clowes, Ware, David B, Winshluss, Killoffer, Blanquet...
The short stories collected here are great: funny, disturbing, strange and modestly clever. For me, the art is the real draw. It reminds me of my first look at a book by Dave Cooper or Charles Burns, the kind of art that keeps me staring at the same page long after I've read it, shaking my head at near-perfection.
The short stories collected here are great: funny, disturbing, strange and modestly clever. For me, the art is the real draw. It reminds me of my first look at a book by Dave Cooper or Charles Burns, the kind of art that keeps me staring at the same page long after I've read it, shaking my head at near-perfection.
February 1, 2018
3.5 stars -- Calling VERY CASUAL "strange" is like calling a Carolina Reaper pepper "hot"--it doesn't really capture the intensity. Inscrutable illustrations and bizarro short stories mingle with feverish re-imaginings of classic comic strips viewed through a malarial haze. I especially liked the strips about the littering gang and the species of slug-deer. A few were just a little too gross.
April 25, 2018
I thought I'd encountered a lot of this material before in anthologies and as minis at various times, and so never got a copy, but actually, out of the vast earlier wells of Deforge short works this seems narrowed down to something both consistant and still unfamiliar. Compared to the later Dressing collection, these bits of body anxiety and unstable biology are much more: 1. intense 2. disgusting 3. detailed (disgusting detail) and 4. brilliantly colored. The more familiar bits here just scratched the surface.
January 9, 2019
Michael DeForge is a weirdo. This is a collection of some short comics and they are reflective of that weirdness, which is most enjoyable.
May 10, 2019
What did I say about Ant Colony?
"Trippy, ridiculous and darkly funny."
Same.
"Trippy, ridiculous and darkly funny."
Same.
February 5, 2017
Dude's pretty fucked.
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June 11, 2025my favorites were "Aesthetics" 🏀 and "Riders" 🏍️
June 11, 2025
Words to describe what I just read: absurd, unhinged, odd, freakish… but also- delightful, magical, and epic.
May 15, 2018
fucking weird!
July 7, 2015
the most imaginative evocative wonderful disturbing work i've ever encountered. so many of these pieces are just wonderful pieces of storytelling even without the art. but they are something really special with it. deforge's work walks right up to that 90s gross out cartoons line, but keeps you invested in the characters with the softness of his lines and expressiveness in even the most alien of faces. very casual is something so different from what i'm used to reading that i'm not really sure how to even criticize it.
December 26, 2014
this is the comic equivalent of a swans album. the work of a brilliant craftsman who's also batshit insane, michael seems to have absorbed everything comics have to offer (from crumb to cathy) and the result is a lean collection that'll blast the flesh off your face if you let it. major tw for body horror on this one, folks. good god, wtf is going on in canada...
January 27, 2016
To be honest I only like this because I looooove the story about the 'spotting deer'. The other comics made me feel uneasy and reminded of old bad trips and fever hallucinations. So, 5 stars for Spotting Deer, 1 star for the rest. Which makes three.
December 1, 2024
I hate giving this book such low grade because DeForge is really a great artist, but this is a collection of his early work where he still hasn't developed his mastery. A nice look for fans, but probably better skipped by everyone else
April 3, 2017
Funny.
It reached its goals of being disturbing.
It reached its goals of being disturbing.
May 4, 2014
Not at all casual.
August 16, 2022
Michael DeForge's early short-form work – the material collected in Very Casual as well as that collected in the brilliant A Body Beneath – is absolutely fascinating to me. Many of the fundaments of his œuvre are already in place: his fascination with human bodies and bodily transformations, his surreally disgusting depictions of sex, his absurd yet dry sense of humour, and his all-pervading sense of alienation. However, this early work also sees him experimenting a lot, especially with different visual approaches, as he clearly hasn't yet landed on what's now become his signature style.
It’s not just a case of these earlier comics being more varied: I personally think that much of this early work actually looks better than his later output. I have no idea about his process, but the art here often feels more organic. In particular, though today he’s known for his use of bright, flat colours, much of Very Casual is in black and white, or black, white and one other colour, and the full-colour parts employ a more muted palette and have different shades blending into one another, which I think looks absolutely great.
Another interesting feature of Very Casual is that, as DeForge hasn’t quite developed his unique voice yet, his influences show a bit more clearly. The best example of this are three strips (the 5-page “Queen”, the 11-page “SM” and one untitled 3-pager) that feel very reminiscent of Jim Woodring: wordless or near-wordless comics whose characters interact with their otherworldly surroundings in puzzling ways, leaving the reader to make sense of things. Very Casual is also notably full of direct references to other work, including Spider-Man, Peanuts, Nancy and The Simpsons, among others – something I don’t recall noticing in any other DeForge comics.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this collection, both as an insight into DeForge’s creative trajectory and as a work in its own right. Some of its comics are a little underdeveloped – especially the shortest ones, like the 4- and 6-panel “Titters” strips – but everything here is at the very least interesting, and most of it's really good, with parts – such as the aforementioned Woodring-esque pieces and the hilarious 14-pager “Cody” – achieving real brilliance.
It’s not just a case of these earlier comics being more varied: I personally think that much of this early work actually looks better than his later output. I have no idea about his process, but the art here often feels more organic. In particular, though today he’s known for his use of bright, flat colours, much of Very Casual is in black and white, or black, white and one other colour, and the full-colour parts employ a more muted palette and have different shades blending into one another, which I think looks absolutely great.
Another interesting feature of Very Casual is that, as DeForge hasn’t quite developed his unique voice yet, his influences show a bit more clearly. The best example of this are three strips (the 5-page “Queen”, the 11-page “SM” and one untitled 3-pager) that feel very reminiscent of Jim Woodring: wordless or near-wordless comics whose characters interact with their otherworldly surroundings in puzzling ways, leaving the reader to make sense of things. Very Casual is also notably full of direct references to other work, including Spider-Man, Peanuts, Nancy and The Simpsons, among others – something I don’t recall noticing in any other DeForge comics.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this collection, both as an insight into DeForge’s creative trajectory and as a work in its own right. Some of its comics are a little underdeveloped – especially the shortest ones, like the 4- and 6-panel “Titters” strips – but everything here is at the very least interesting, and most of it's really good, with parts – such as the aforementioned Woodring-esque pieces and the hilarious 14-pager “Cody” – achieving real brilliance.
August 13, 2019
Very Casual is an interesting, weird, and innovative collection of short comics by Michael DeForge, showcasing some of his early work. This was the first of DeForge’s books I’ve read and I’m definitely intrigued by his eye for the strange and the mundane alike, his art style abstract and fluid but with an evocative use of details as well.
The highlight is definitely the scientific/cultural exploration of the slimy, invertebrate Spotting Deer and their influx into major Canadian cities, as well as the creepy tale of the monstrous superstars in Sweet Tat. Many of the collected comics draw deeply from body horror as well as a deliciously offbeat sense of humor, a mix that really seems to work here, though others seem to be a bit too brief and bizarre to really resonate. I’m definitely looking forward to going through more of DeForge’s oeuvre.
The highlight is definitely the scientific/cultural exploration of the slimy, invertebrate Spotting Deer and their influx into major Canadian cities, as well as the creepy tale of the monstrous superstars in Sweet Tat. Many of the collected comics draw deeply from body horror as well as a deliciously offbeat sense of humor, a mix that really seems to work here, though others seem to be a bit too brief and bizarre to really resonate. I’m definitely looking forward to going through more of DeForge’s oeuvre.
August 19, 2022
A bizarre, hyper-surreal journey through the eye of Michael DeForge, former Adventure Time artist and shining light in the Canadian alt-comix community. He guides you through local wildlife like the "spotted deer" (a kind of hermaphroditic slug), punk bands whose onstage appearance is that of horrendous peanut-shaped flesh blobs, the underground littering movement that upends a bulbous cowboy's home life, the scrambled eroticism of weak cable transmissions, the sexual nightmares of Spider-Man, the unfortunate life of a man born with a body that looks like Snoopy with his back turned to you and many, many more. All of it held together with DeForge's particular drippy tubular Daniel Clowes/David Cronenberg love-child body horror aesthetic. Good for anyone who enjoys fucked up comix stuffed in a box in the back of a record store.
January 8, 2020
I do enjoy this kind of surreal graphic novel. By far the best skit was the one with the litter gangs. It starts when an old colleague hands you a pamphlet about littering in a cafe. Next thing you know you've developed a littering habit, but your family will still tolerate it as long as you keep perishables off the lawn and don't litter using personal belongings. Before long, you're participating in hit-and-run jobs in which you and a co-conspirator dump the contents of an isle on the floor of a supermarket. But you draw the line at "live littering" in which pets, small children, and elderly family members are left behind in public places (first born sons a common rite of passage for the more hardcore litter gangs).
March 9, 2020
this was fun to read right after her body & other parties, because carmen maria machado and michael deforge have a lot of the same interests-- oozing slime flesh blobs, body horror, having yourself as a character, including regular comic characters like snoopy or spider man or all the classic newspaper characters but making it grotesque and disturbing reminded me of the SVU chapter in HB&OP. I rlly enjoyed this collection but wanted everything to be longer. i liked the litter gang story the best both in concept and i loved the big feet characters. i love deforge's art so much and wish this wasn't a library book so i could hang some of the pages up. i wanted more of the snowman story and the basketball player who wanted to revamp the game.
January 24, 2018
The whorled neck spurts a large, limp penis; a wound opens up in the side of the body: the voice croaks out a knotted punchline. That's kind of DeForge's style, but it does him no justice. A grab-bag by nature, this collection is a dip here, a knock there. It's uneven material, quite honestly, and reflects its incidental roots. I wouldn't start here with his work - which is good! – as there's more repulsion than wit in these. But for a collector hungry for another deep dose of that dank grossness: yeah, you're going to want to see these, just to make sure you've seen it all.
October 23, 2021
Just because it is quirky and different does not mean it is good or interesting. Maybe this is better enjoyed small parcels at a time, but altogether, I could not get to the end of this book fast enough. I have seen too many indy comics that are bizarre and make no sense and have little to engage the reader except for disquieting images - not sure how this is much better than those except a little more professional looking. There are much better examples of this type of graphic illustration and story telling in my opinion.
April 10, 2023
Grotesque and absurd, so its not going to be for everyone, and I am not even sure it is for me. But indubitably DeForge is talented, as you keep turning the pages ans staring at whatever captures your eye (neck penis, festering orifice, dripping - all of this rendered in brigth childlike color...) Very sexual with a multiple of twisted and deformed organs... yeah its that kind of horror.
As I said, though, undeniably interesting. Some of the short stories are fun with weird premise. Urban deers, the litter gang... fun stuff, but I would not recommend it. At least not to my mom.
As I said, though, undeniably interesting. Some of the short stories are fun with weird premise. Urban deers, the litter gang... fun stuff, but I would not recommend it. At least not to my mom.
November 4, 2017
I strongly dislike every story and skit in this book. But I really like some of DeForge's weird design ideas and occasional use of color and inks.
My feelings about Michael DeForge are like the way I feel about that one cat. I like cats. They're cute and usually fun to have around. But there's that one cat. You know the one. He scratches your furniture, pukes on the carpet, and chews on your favorite comics. But he still looks cute. Michael DeForge is that cat.
My feelings about Michael DeForge are like the way I feel about that one cat. I like cats. They're cute and usually fun to have around. But there's that one cat. You know the one. He scratches your furniture, pukes on the carpet, and chews on your favorite comics. But he still looks cute. Michael DeForge is that cat.
January 25, 2020
What a stunning and bizarre collection! Loved all the stories, from the spotting deer (I mean, the slug that looks like a deer) to the littering gangs, from Cody the litterer to the boy who's mother was a beagle... Titters are perfect interludes, and the one about negative space is hilarious. All in all a very creative and sick collection worth rereading every now and then.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews