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Goiter
GOITER is the first collection of short stories by Josh Pettinger. It explores the strange and unnerving experience of being a person. GOITER features a traveling ventriloquist accused of a horrible crime, the romantic adventures of a floating head fighting an interdimensional war, and a dystopian epic set in a distant-future online retail warehouse.
Described by Robert Crumb as “good social commentary, with some moments that made me laugh out loud. Tops in my book!”
Described by Robert Crumb as “good social commentary, with some moments that made me laugh out loud. Tops in my book!”
Paperback
Published May 30, 2024
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156 people want to read
About the author
Josh Pettinger
8 books18 followersJosh Pettinger is a Philadelphia-based English cartoonist, mostly known for his comic book series Goiter (Fantagraphics).
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
July 20, 2025
A bote pronto, me recuerda a Daniel Clowes y al Paco Alcázar más surrealista. Cuando lo primero que te sale es una comparación, puede parecer que estás diciendo que algo carece de originalidad, pero no es esa mi intención con respecto a Goiter. Encuentro en él una combinación de melancolía, humor y oscuridad que personalmente me agrada mucho. Mis favoritos: La historia de la chica que se enamora del cabezón sin cuerpo de su futuro novio procedente de una guerra interdimensional, la de William Cucumber, y la minihistoria del niño que escribe al gran mago del KKK.
June 2, 2024
Josh Pettinger's Goiter has floated around the self-published underground comics scene for several years now, slowly building a readership in the alternative comics space. His partnership with veteran cartoonist Simon Hanselmann also helped build his profile, both via their collaboration on the recent Fantagraphics release of
Werewolf Jones & Sons
as well as their off the cuff antics on their shared YouTube channel, MANGA CHAT. But Goiter always stood out just for its name alone, sometimes as a passing joke within the broader comics community but primarily within the cult following who took their enjoyment of the series as an inside joke that only they could appreciate. Pettinger even remarks on this with the final strip in this collection whereby he recognizes that he might simply have to embrace being known as the "Goiter Guy". But the growing readership for this series made it so that the older issues became impossibly hard to find in print, making the eventual collection inevitable. And here it is finally, published by Floating World Comics, and providing Pettinger a further in-road towards a broader readership.
Goiter is an one man anthology series of sorts, similar in a lot of ways to Dan Clowes' Eightball series with the heavy use of absurdism and pathetic protagonists. The variety in stories is nice, and Pettinger's brand of offbeat humor ensures that each story has highly unpredictable. Most issues had long feature stories with several backups, and here all of the major stories from issues #2-8 have been collected along with some new pages done just for this collection. The major stories in here include: "Henry Kildare", "Sally Talman", "Wendy Bread", "William Cucumber" and the three-part epic "Victory Squad". Each of these are stunning in their ability to translate banality into humor, a rare gift that only a handful of cartoonists can deliver on reliably. Pettinger's strengths lie in his ability to churn out preposterous stories from a mundane premise, and it's impressive to watch him deliver this over and over again without it ever running stale. Adding to the great feature stories in here are some solid shorter pieces. Not all are great of course, but Pettinger's misses tend to be few in general.
The main feature length stories are all fantastic. "Henry Kildare" is about a comic who does a ventriloquist act on the road but is accused of murdering a young girl and tries to defend himself in vain. The desperation in Henry's circumstances are potently achieved with Pettinger's rigid panel layouts that utilize silence to a tremendous degree.
"Sally Talman" follows a woman whose life is filled with doldrums of everyday life, is suddenly visited by the disembodied head of her future boyfriend, Joe, who is fighting an interdimensional war. Amidst the mundane quality of her life along with the trepidations of losing out on her twenties, Sally falls hard for Joe which leads to a sequence of even more absurd situations. Remove the floating head, and this strip could easily be considered autobiographical to an extent, but therein lies the creative ingenuity of Pettinger's humor.
"Wendy Bread" is the next follow up and it features a silently suffering housewife who manages to keep her household in check between her cheating husband who works the pro-wrestling circuit on the road and her impetuous son who has turned into an alt-right troll with a major hentai fixation. Wendy's story is an uncomfortable portrait of alienation within the confines of a family unit, allowing for some interesting deconstruction of traditional cultural norms.
"William Cucumber" features a young man who is fired from his job renting chairs on the beach and so he ends up squatting in the backyard of his parents who are going through a divorce and picks up a smoking habit. Along the way, Will gets caught up in the investigation of a murder with his potential new step-sister which initiates a series of more odd plot elements together.
But the strongest story remains "Victory Squad", serialized in issues #6-8 of the series. The dig at Amazon's labor practices and Jeff Bezos is obvious enough, but Pettinger's takedown of the megacorporation is more than just the easy jokes about bathroom breaks and the rigid bureaucracy. It's a venture into speculative fiction as the story gets more and more sci-fi in execution, ultimately leading to a revolt within the company led by a group of freedom fighters who seek to liberate the world of their corporate overlords. It's funny and exciting all at once, with this being a great cap to the series.
The stories are illustrated in Pettinger's distinctively rigid style, where figures feel static and clumsy but their expressions are highly evocative and easy to read. The stunted action works remarkably well to the rhythm of the narratives, with the artwork often accentuating the jokes. Drab colors along with screentones are Pettinger's palette of choice, but it's very effectively utilized throughout. Every aspect of the art is seamlessly integrated with the stories, making this one of the great modern one-man anthologies out there. A criticism of this collection could be the choice to shift to thinner newsprint paper which doesn't do the colors justice the way they were in the original single issues, but I overall appreciated the pulpy feel to this trade paperback. Even if the quality of the artwork takes on a new shape here, I'd still highly recommend picking this up since the innovative quality of Pettinger's cartooning comes through regardless.
Goiter is an one man anthology series of sorts, similar in a lot of ways to Dan Clowes' Eightball series with the heavy use of absurdism and pathetic protagonists. The variety in stories is nice, and Pettinger's brand of offbeat humor ensures that each story has highly unpredictable. Most issues had long feature stories with several backups, and here all of the major stories from issues #2-8 have been collected along with some new pages done just for this collection. The major stories in here include: "Henry Kildare", "Sally Talman", "Wendy Bread", "William Cucumber" and the three-part epic "Victory Squad". Each of these are stunning in their ability to translate banality into humor, a rare gift that only a handful of cartoonists can deliver on reliably. Pettinger's strengths lie in his ability to churn out preposterous stories from a mundane premise, and it's impressive to watch him deliver this over and over again without it ever running stale. Adding to the great feature stories in here are some solid shorter pieces. Not all are great of course, but Pettinger's misses tend to be few in general.
The main feature length stories are all fantastic. "Henry Kildare" is about a comic who does a ventriloquist act on the road but is accused of murdering a young girl and tries to defend himself in vain. The desperation in Henry's circumstances are potently achieved with Pettinger's rigid panel layouts that utilize silence to a tremendous degree.
"Sally Talman" follows a woman whose life is filled with doldrums of everyday life, is suddenly visited by the disembodied head of her future boyfriend, Joe, who is fighting an interdimensional war. Amidst the mundane quality of her life along with the trepidations of losing out on her twenties, Sally falls hard for Joe which leads to a sequence of even more absurd situations. Remove the floating head, and this strip could easily be considered autobiographical to an extent, but therein lies the creative ingenuity of Pettinger's humor.
"Wendy Bread" is the next follow up and it features a silently suffering housewife who manages to keep her household in check between her cheating husband who works the pro-wrestling circuit on the road and her impetuous son who has turned into an alt-right troll with a major hentai fixation. Wendy's story is an uncomfortable portrait of alienation within the confines of a family unit, allowing for some interesting deconstruction of traditional cultural norms.
"William Cucumber" features a young man who is fired from his job renting chairs on the beach and so he ends up squatting in the backyard of his parents who are going through a divorce and picks up a smoking habit. Along the way, Will gets caught up in the investigation of a murder with his potential new step-sister which initiates a series of more odd plot elements together.
But the strongest story remains "Victory Squad", serialized in issues #6-8 of the series. The dig at Amazon's labor practices and Jeff Bezos is obvious enough, but Pettinger's takedown of the megacorporation is more than just the easy jokes about bathroom breaks and the rigid bureaucracy. It's a venture into speculative fiction as the story gets more and more sci-fi in execution, ultimately leading to a revolt within the company led by a group of freedom fighters who seek to liberate the world of their corporate overlords. It's funny and exciting all at once, with this being a great cap to the series.
The stories are illustrated in Pettinger's distinctively rigid style, where figures feel static and clumsy but their expressions are highly evocative and easy to read. The stunted action works remarkably well to the rhythm of the narratives, with the artwork often accentuating the jokes. Drab colors along with screentones are Pettinger's palette of choice, but it's very effectively utilized throughout. Every aspect of the art is seamlessly integrated with the stories, making this one of the great modern one-man anthologies out there. A criticism of this collection could be the choice to shift to thinner newsprint paper which doesn't do the colors justice the way they were in the original single issues, but I overall appreciated the pulpy feel to this trade paperback. Even if the quality of the artwork takes on a new shape here, I'd still highly recommend picking this up since the innovative quality of Pettinger's cartooning comes through regardless.
November 25, 2024
Une collections BD d'histoires courtes, déstabilisantes, se finissant parfois en aporie. Il y a de l'intime, du post-apo dystopique, du drame, de la comédie et on ne se retrouve jamais là où on pensait.
May 24, 2024
Great series. Josh is a masterful humorist and book provides lots of laughs with also being mind bending melancholic science fiction to boot. Get on the Josh train and read the freaking thing.
February 11, 2025
Chociaż Josh Pettinger może być kojarzony ze współpracy z Simonem Hanselmannem, bliżej mu do Twórczości Daniela Clowesa czy Nicka Drnaso. Atmosfera dziwności, mało prawdopodobne i fantastyczne motywy wrzucone w opowieści o przeciętnych mieszkańcach nudnych miejscowości, niezwykłość wdzierająca się w monotonne i pozbawione perspektyw życie bohaterów – oto żywioł twórcy, który wprawia swoich bohaterów w zakłopotanie, dając im jednocześnie nadzieję na wyrwanie się z szarej i pozbawionej perspektyw rzeczywistości.
Najbardziej znamienna wydaje się opowieść o Sally Talman, rozczarowanej wchodzeniem w dorosłość bohaterce, spotykającej na swej drodze kochanka z równoległego świata, który skorzystał z maszyny do podróży w czasie i przestrzeni stworzonej przez więźniów w obozie koncentracyjnym. Z racji niedoskonałej konstrukcji, Joe Murphy prezentuje się wybrance jedynie w formie oderwanej od reszty ciała głowy. Z kolei tytułowy bohater innego opowiadania - „William Cucamber” - pracując jako gość od rozkładania leżaków na plaży, marzy o wyjeździe do Los Angeles i wręczeniu słynnemu aktorowi własnego scenariusza filmowego. Niespodziewana sytuacja rodzinna, w jakąś został wplątany William, kończy się spowodowaną upadkiem wizją, w której spotyka ukochanego aktora, a ten w nadmorskiej scenerii wymawia znamienne dla całego zbioru słowa:
„To dlatego, że tam nie pasujesz. Nie nadajesz się do życia ssaków”.
Właśnie to nieprzystosowanie jest dominującym motywem łączącym większość historii zamieszczonych w „Goiterze”. Bez względu na to czy są utrzymane w konwencji antyutopii, w której „Amazon” po pandemii przejął całkowicie kontrolę nad ludźmi i ich światem, czy wplątują niewinnego komika w porwanie i morderstwo w miejscowości, w której występuje.
Bohaterowie Pettingera mijają się z sednem i mają ciągłe wrażenie, że życie biegnie gdzieś obok. Ich codzienność stanowią marzenia o przeżyciu, które pozwoli choć na chwilę poczuć coś wyjątkowego. Artysta daje im tę namiastkę emocji, nawet jeśli wykreowane wydarzenia w najlepszym przypadku wywołują poczucie niezręczności.
Najbardziej znamienna wydaje się opowieść o Sally Talman, rozczarowanej wchodzeniem w dorosłość bohaterce, spotykającej na swej drodze kochanka z równoległego świata, który skorzystał z maszyny do podróży w czasie i przestrzeni stworzonej przez więźniów w obozie koncentracyjnym. Z racji niedoskonałej konstrukcji, Joe Murphy prezentuje się wybrance jedynie w formie oderwanej od reszty ciała głowy. Z kolei tytułowy bohater innego opowiadania - „William Cucamber” - pracując jako gość od rozkładania leżaków na plaży, marzy o wyjeździe do Los Angeles i wręczeniu słynnemu aktorowi własnego scenariusza filmowego. Niespodziewana sytuacja rodzinna, w jakąś został wplątany William, kończy się spowodowaną upadkiem wizją, w której spotyka ukochanego aktora, a ten w nadmorskiej scenerii wymawia znamienne dla całego zbioru słowa:
„To dlatego, że tam nie pasujesz. Nie nadajesz się do życia ssaków”.
Właśnie to nieprzystosowanie jest dominującym motywem łączącym większość historii zamieszczonych w „Goiterze”. Bez względu na to czy są utrzymane w konwencji antyutopii, w której „Amazon” po pandemii przejął całkowicie kontrolę nad ludźmi i ich światem, czy wplątują niewinnego komika w porwanie i morderstwo w miejscowości, w której występuje.
Bohaterowie Pettingera mijają się z sednem i mają ciągłe wrażenie, że życie biegnie gdzieś obok. Ich codzienność stanowią marzenia o przeżyciu, które pozwoli choć na chwilę poczuć coś wyjątkowego. Artysta daje im tę namiastkę emocji, nawet jeśli wykreowane wydarzenia w najlepszym przypadku wywołują poczucie niezręczności.
July 15, 2024
lovely collection from Pettinger. I'd read his collaboration with Simon Hanselmann as well as a couple of Tedward stories before this so it was interesting to see him approach the anthology format. Lots of very well done stories about sad guys trying to find love. Reminds me in a way of the stories of John Cheever (which I very much doubt is an intentional influence) in the ways stories border between the domestic and the fantastic. At some points the stories became a little repetitive, but none were bad in isolation. I particularly liked Victory Squad as well as the Zoomer Baggy Pants story which is one of the funniest stories ive read in a while.
Occasionally due to the printing as well as page dimensions, some stories were difficult to read with some very small text but overall a very impressive collection.
Occasionally due to the printing as well as page dimensions, some stories were difficult to read with some very small text but overall a very impressive collection.
December 9, 2024
The new king of emotionally alienated comics.
August 2, 2024
A couple of years ago I read and loved issue #6 of Josh Pettinger's one-man anthology, “Goiter”, but living in Europe, I was unable to get any other issues at a reasonable price. When a French collected edition came out in 2023, I decided to hold out for an English collection, and after that French edition garnered an Angoulême nomination, Floating World Comics announced that it would finally put out an English collected edition in 2024. All of this added up to this book being one of my most anticipated releases of the year, and I'm glad to say it didn't disappoint.
The collection contains 17 of Pettinger's short comics, including the 68-page futuristic dystopian thriller “Victory Squad” (which the French publisher calls a “novella”), the 21-page crime comic “Henry Kildare”, the 28-page sci-fi romance “Sally Talman”, the 26-page wrestling comic “Wendy Bread”, the 28-page coming-of-age tale “William Cucumber”, plus a dozen pieces of less than five pages each. Despite the nominally diverse subject matters, this is a very cohesive collection. All the comics here are focused squarely on comedy, and they all share a dry, deadpan, absurdist sense of humour, a pessimistic worldview, a dollop of surrealism, excellent clear-line cartooning, and pathetic, ridiculous, sad-sack protagonists. The result is a cocktail of components that appeals hugely to my tastes, combining outlandish oddity with understated delivery, cutting societal commentary and occasional emotional gut punches. Downbeat comedy at its finest! What's more, although there are definite similarities with the likes of Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware and Simon Hanselmann, Pettinger has a truly distinctive voice and style, both visually and as a writer, which is really impressive so early in his career.
As a side note, I have to mention the physical attributes of the Floating World paperback edition of this book (currently the only English version), which has received quite a bit of flack online. As others have said, the pages feel extremely flimsy and the book’s dimensions are on the small side. On top of that, after just one read, my copy’s cover has started peeling. However, the newsprint paper stock really suits Pettinger’s colouring, making the artwork look absolutely great. Moreover, in any case, the content more than makes up for the shortcomings of the book as an object.
The collection contains 17 of Pettinger's short comics, including the 68-page futuristic dystopian thriller “Victory Squad” (which the French publisher calls a “novella”), the 21-page crime comic “Henry Kildare”, the 28-page sci-fi romance “Sally Talman”, the 26-page wrestling comic “Wendy Bread”, the 28-page coming-of-age tale “William Cucumber”, plus a dozen pieces of less than five pages each. Despite the nominally diverse subject matters, this is a very cohesive collection. All the comics here are focused squarely on comedy, and they all share a dry, deadpan, absurdist sense of humour, a pessimistic worldview, a dollop of surrealism, excellent clear-line cartooning, and pathetic, ridiculous, sad-sack protagonists. The result is a cocktail of components that appeals hugely to my tastes, combining outlandish oddity with understated delivery, cutting societal commentary and occasional emotional gut punches. Downbeat comedy at its finest! What's more, although there are definite similarities with the likes of Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware and Simon Hanselmann, Pettinger has a truly distinctive voice and style, both visually and as a writer, which is really impressive so early in his career.
As a side note, I have to mention the physical attributes of the Floating World paperback edition of this book (currently the only English version), which has received quite a bit of flack online. As others have said, the pages feel extremely flimsy and the book’s dimensions are on the small side. On top of that, after just one read, my copy’s cover has started peeling. However, the newsprint paper stock really suits Pettinger’s colouring, making the artwork look absolutely great. Moreover, in any case, the content more than makes up for the shortcomings of the book as an object.
June 7, 2025
Finally got the chance to sit down and read through this all. I had gotten a few single issues as they were coming out. This was a nice refresher. Plus I got to read everything in one go. Granted the storylines don't necessarily connect. But the atmosphere is always similar. Mostly somber and dull. A social commentary as I heard it put before. Sure it has a few really good laughs and some surrealism. But the majority of the book has a depressing feel to it. The characters are sad. The situations are sad. It reminds you how sad life can be. And I love it. I got to reflect on things about my life during this book. I also got to laugh at the goofiness of it all. Great stories and wonderful art. Josh Pettinger draws some of the best mundane and bored faces I've ever seen. Watching a character go about their normal boring life that they hate. The emotions of it all is beautifully shown. It's not a book that everyone will enjoy. But it is one that most people can relate to. And those who enjoy it will really enjoy it. And I loved it. Highly recommend if you can get your hands on one.
March 17, 2025
Why is this called ‘Goiter’? Is it because all the characters look slightly swollen? Is it just a cool name for comics? Maybe it doesn’t matter, maybe it adds to the surrealism prima facie. Almost every story has the feel of a biographical comic by loners half in a daydream, following not so much the logic of dreams but escapism. The humour is tinged with irony and something close to melancholy or ennui. The newspaper feel of the pages adds to the illustration, which is a simple line art sophisticated in its scope, at times cinematic in its composition. I don’t think it’s such a bad thing to be known as the Goiter Guy!
December 17, 2025
Me ha llevado un tiempo leerlo pero como son historias cortas, todo bien. Goiter es una amalgama de personajes rarunos, estúpidos, absurdos, graciosos, perdedores, irritantes, yo qué sé. Todo ello en distintas historias de longitudes variables que a mí me han encantado. Respecto a lo visual, no tiene una composición de página muy loca pero el estilo de Josh Pettinger a mí, personalmente, me flipa. Y a nivel general, me recuerda a Burns y a Clowes, que a mí me maravillan. Qué puedo decir, me lo he pasado guay aunque reconozco que no es para todos los públicos.
July 15, 2024
Reminds me of old stuff I like, but with the current strand of dread I (and we?) feel every single day. Great. Luv it. Luv goiters, too. Magnificent things, goiters…
July 29, 2024
Comedic thrills of mundane lives
October 2, 2024
Fabulous! I have one small criticism of the Victory Squad story - I wished they hadn’t named the evil corporation Amazon. We could have made that leap ourselves.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 2, 2024
Quirky and weird in all the ways I like. I found each story entertaining and cannot wait to see what is next.
October 25, 2024
The overall satire is dry as a crisp, maybe even a little stale, but it has its moments.
December 31, 2024
Es increíble cómo algo tan absurdo puede ser a la vez desternillante y profundamente trágico.
January 30, 2025
No es muy allá el comprar, pero si te gusta el Dan Clowes del absurdo más existencial de Bola 8, está obra es como una revista a ese mundo pero con un estilo más expresionista bastante resultón
March 18, 2025
Boh raga nemmeno brutto di per sé, solo un po' strano, però è quel tipo di fumetto che mi dimenticherò domani.
November 11, 2025
3.5-4 / 5 some stories are pretty Orwellian 1984, enjoyed that
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews