Dressing

by Michael DeForge

On aurait sans doute tort de considérer Michael DeForge comme un dessinateur purement dévoué au bizarre, un obsédé du glauque et un apôtre du malsain. Certes certes certes, le prodige canadien s’aventure souvent dans des recoins bien sombres, et n’a pas peur de jouer avec les aspects les plus monstrueux de l’être humain; mais ce qui fait que le travail de DeForge est parfois dérangeant tient moins d’une volonté superficielle de se complaire dans le «trash» que d’une certaine faculté à toucher là où ça fait mal, là où gît une vérité peu agréable à entendre. Cette vision du monde, parfois peu amène, parvient au lecteur dans une forme sans cesse renouvelée, le trait s’adaptant au sujet et aux ambitions de chaque histoire. DeForge n’est pourtant pas qu’un pur formaliste, et il faut souligner son travail sur la narration, son vrai talent d’écriture et son attachement aux mots. Toutes ces qualités, on les retrouve dans Dressing. A l’image de certains écrivains orfèvres de la nouvelle plutôt que du roman fleuve, DeForge excelle dans les histoires dites courtes, des récits de quelques pages aux situations souvent kafkaïennes, traversés de personnages victimes des circonstances, ignorant jusqu’au bout le pourquoi de leur destin; des histoires courtes aux décors changeant – Mars, le Pôle Nord, une chambre d’hôtel, l’intérieur d’une tête, une jungle emplie d’animaux armés – mais qui disent bien plus qu’il n’y pourrait paraître toutes les blessures et les perversions de l’âme humaine.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Short Stories, Fiction, Bande Dessinée, Canada, Graphic Novels Comics

124 pages, Hardcover

First published September 8, 2015

About the author

Michael 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.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful little book of short full-color comics, featuring tantalizingly varied art styles for each story (yet still all of a piece). A few of the stories like "Website" are really quite good; most of the rest are just okay. DeForge's specialty is spinning weird, highly imaginative, icily detached narratives - he's a very cerebral creator, thus I find it hard to get emotionally involved in his work. But his art is the real star here, and I love the cute, near pocket size feel of the book itself. 4 out of 5.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though this is yet another collection of DeForge's work, I think it really shows a steady step up in his development, more complex, maybe less "juvenile" (though I like that stuff, too, he's really funny, which I appreciate in the often serious world of art comics), but still playful and formally interesting. He continues to play with alternative ways of exploring narrative, and memoir. Plenty of weird little creatures.

[Nate D · Rating 4 out of 5]

After snapping up endless DeForge minis for a number of years, I think I sort of hit oversaturation and had to step back. His works prying into uncanny-mundane experience were as good as ever, but I'd lost my excitement: of course they were good, no surprises there, I see what he's doing here, etc. The problem was clearly with me, not him, and I imagined that if I just waited a bit, he'd reappear with some new megawork that I'd be able to come at and experience all at once with no foreknowledge and be bowled over again.

Until then, inattention settles on me. A few years pass. I forget everything I know.

And then, I run into this at the library, already three years old but nearly all new to me (I'd seen an excerpt of the Flirting Fish story ages ago, but only that). This isn't the megawork that I can still anticipate, but coming at this with fresh perspective, it was a complete delight. Gorgeous color juxtapositions, perfectly assured line-work with the ability to shift style drastically from story to story, and a deft narrative sense able to make the weird familiar, then upend any expectation with each successive panel.

Clever, still original, and contains the best solution for ending a directionless story with no clear resolution in sight, the closing line: "Millions of years go by."

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

DeForge is one of the most unique voices in comics today.

This is a collection of DeForge short story comics by the now-defunct publisher Koyama (responsible for publishing many of the best indie/alt comix of the 2010s).

It's a fantastic sampler of his work covering his wide range of styles. There's a wide range of quality as well unfortunately. I think new readers would be better served with a more recent collection such as Heaven No Hell.

[Zioluc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Storielle lisergiche sul filo dell'inconsistenza ma notevolissime per inventiva, varietà (anche di stile grafico), fantasia e originalità.

[Matteo Fumagalli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Videorecensione: https://youtu.be/pqEpsObeuJ0

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

a quick read I truly enjoyed. The artwork alone is beautiful and weird....some of the stories I had to re read because I loved them so much...the best type of comics!!!

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, rounded up.

DeForge is definitely sui generis, and I suspect something of an acquired taste! My first experience of him intrigued me, but I was equal parts baffled and amused. This collection of 14 short graphic 'stories' show a wider palate of both his writing talent and his artistic styles. Some are confusing, some are droll, some are perplexing. But I like that.

[Nelliamoci · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il lato pop si sporca di tematiche difficili e incomprensibili, di menti manipolate e incapaci di accettare le proprie debolezze. (...) Il senso di colpa e di incapacità a reagire regnano sovrani in Dressing e lo si percepisce da situazioni che criticano la società e la filosofia del niente, nelle personalità tragicamente bloccate in una vita automatizzata, dettata dal profitto e dalla totale assenza di sentimenti.

https://justanotherpoint.wordpress.co...

[Chandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird short stories with weird artwork. I can dig it.

[Gabriel Infierno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every history is amazing and the art is beautiful and original, I loved everything about this book.

[J.T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deforge stories are more focused on conveying a feeling than in a traditional story structure. There rarely seem to be any conclusions or endings. This collection has a variety of drawing/text styles, but they all feel "Deforgian" in that they're uniquely his own.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was first introduced to DeForge's unique style of writing and drawing with Big Kids, one of my favorite books of all time. In this collection of short works from zines and anthologies, I see him playing around with many of the ideas and approaches to comics making that are perfected in his more recent works like Sticks Angelica. Many of his stories have vague, far-reaching plots which involve bodies transforming or people at the mercy of or benefiting from massive structural changes to society. These stories are enjoyable and many made me laugh out loud, but they are lacking the depth that his more mature works have accomplished. Still recommend to anyone interested in his work or seeing how an artist works on their ideas over time.

[shary · Rating 4 out of 5]

gorgeous, idiosyncratic pieces - felt like i was sneaking a read of someone's diary. i didn't know where to look on some pages; the art was so beautiful, yet i kept getting the urge to avert my eyes. i really want to go back and take in the illustrations better, but my first read already left me feeling a bit disconcerted.

biggest shock of all was on the final page: deforge is from toronto and not the san francisco bay area!? with "dot com"? "websites"? what gives, michael deforge?

[Marc · Rating 5 out of 5]

As close to perfect as a small collection of short form comics could ever be. Extremely imaginative and exquisitely drawn, these short stories touches on everything from travels to Mars and xmass elves to gay sex and cats with guns. A perfect introduction to DeForges, and if you like this one, go straight to his masterpiece "Ant Colony".

[Keith Kavanagh · Rating 4 out of 5]

reread last night
love how deforge changes styles to adhere to the kind of story he wants to tell
christmas dinner is my absolute favourite

[Przemysław Skoczyński · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kolejna porcja odjechanych historii, w których dziwactwa i niedorzeczności mieszają się ze zwariowanymi grafikami DeForge, a pod kilkoma warstwami absurdu czai się drugie dno.

[kaitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

faves were; ‘my sister dropped dead from the heat’ ‘christmas dinner’ ‘elves’ ‘all of my friends, up high, in a jumbo jet’

[Hope Pugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

great graphics

[Vittorio Rainone · Rating 5 out of 5]

14 storie folli, con approcci grafici molto diversi, ma una linea comune netta e chiara, che spesso vira verso fascinazioni astratte. Una narrazione che preferisce un approccio verboso e diaristico, ricavando il suo senso di straniamento non solo dagli argomenti volutamente stravaganti delle storie (un’azienda che produce sirene, una sanguinaria cena di natale fra folletti, madre e figlia che sanno saltare per migliaia di chilometri, un’erezione ineliminabile e altre amenità), ma anche e soprattutto dallo stacco fra tono ed argomento del parlato e forme (spesso principalmente forme) e colori disposti sulla pagina.
Con il risultato che questo fumetto diventa un viaggio davvero interessante nelle suggestioni, un flusso continuo, perché quasi tutti i racconti non finiscono quando le relative storie trovano una loro conclusione, ma si interrompono in una dissolvenza improvvisa, spingendo a girare pagina, nella speranza di una continuazione, e tuffarsi nel racconto successivo.
È una metafora della società moderna, liquida e multi sfaccettata? È un semplice gioco, un cadavre exquisite? Forse entrambe le cose, ma quello che conta è che mai ho provato noia per le soluzioni proposte, sempre piuttosto voglia di continuare il gioco.

[Alex Firer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book read by me at the right moment of peak and absolute anxiety. The stories in this book seem in the vein of Crumb, follow the feelings that bother you the most and see where they lead. The stories about change, fear, loss of memories and troubled relationships strike a chord with anyone. My dream is to someday be so out of touch only dumb superficial movies speak to me but alas, absolute anxiety is the perfect tonic for anxiety absolute.

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of DeForge. This collection of short pieces includes colourful,weird, otherworldly and outrageous creations that are at times unsettling. I think that's a good thing. I'm so glad his work was featured in The Best American Comics 2017 because in my mind he saved an otherwise bland collection. Highly recommended. 8.5/10

[Tommy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael DeForge is always reliably strange and off-kilter, even when he's telling a story set in suburbia. This collection has a nice range of styles and stories. Some were even, like, unexpectedly NAUGHTY! Very weird art style, and weird storytelling style. And I like weird.

[Sonic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weird, and wonderfully unique story-telling and aesthetics.

[Purl Scout · Rating 3 out of 5]

I still don't know exactly what I read but it was haunting in a kind of halting, dreamy delirious sort of way. gorgeous artwork..

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

he had been spewing wearing a t-shirt and nothing else - like that term he kept hearing lately, "winnie the pooh-ing."

[Maggie Potter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool divergence from basic story structure. Weird, wonderful artwork.

[Jolin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird. Great.

[Brian O'Connell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Characteristically excellent. DeForge has a knack for penning weird, almost poem-esque vignettes and complementing them with archaic but gorgeous visuals. Highly recommended.

[Francesca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Estremamente, ostinatamente strano, sperimentale, rarefatto. Anche troppo, per me. Graficamente notevole.