From the Ignatz Award-winning creator of The End of the F*cking World and Revenger comes a new psychosexual thriller. Meet Christine, a data entry specialist discovering her sexuality and her penchant for blood. Seemingly timid and plain to her coworkers, she harbors dangerous urges. A lion of sexual violence bubbles just below the surface. What is this monster brewing inside her? Charles Forsman is a 2008 graduate of the Center for Cartoon Studies. He is a three-time Ignatz Award winner. His comic book TEOTFW (Fantagraphics) will be turned into a television series for Channel 4 and Netflix. He lives in Adams, MA.
Charles Forsman was born in Pennsylvania in 1982. He is arguably the most acclaimed talent to come out of the Center for Cartoon Studies, a school founded in 2004 by graphic novelist James Sturm and educator Michelle Ollie in White River Junction, VT. Forsman graduated in 2008 and is a two-time Ignatz Award-winner for his self-published minicomic, Snake Oil. He lives in Hancock, MA, where he runs Oily Comics. - See more at: http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.ph...
The only bright spot in Christine’s life is the love she’s found online with an emaciated teenager and their shared love of blood/leather/knife play fetishes. Then Christine buys a knife and, after one fateful night, her whole world changes and she discovers who she really is. She’s happy, she’s in love - and a lotta people are gonna have to die…
Chuck Forsman is one of the most original and talented cartoonists working today and Slasher is another brilliant book from this remarkable creator. Slasher reminded me a bit of the bleak, troubled romance of TEOTFW but taken to the next level - ie. much, much darker - and mixed with the bloodiness of Revenger.
I can see why some people might not like this book very much: Christine is unlikeable and severely unhinged. Things escalate without rhyme or reason and seemingly gratuitously, barrelling towards total nihilism. But I also think that’s part of the book’s appeal: it’s so unapologetic in what it is, much like Christine learns to be. As fucked up as everything in this book is, this is love for Christine - it’s not most people’s idea of love, but she’s also not most people.
And that’s the other thing: this is a love story. Yes it is, and I really like that there is a blip of human tenderness and soul amidst all the carnage. It’s a love story I’ve never read before and I appreciate Forsman giving us a different take on this oldest of story types.
The story is completely unpredictable and, for all its horror, utterly compelling. The twist is impossible to predict as is Christine’s behaviour in general. Forsman’s writing is very artful and minimalist - he’s not going to explain any of it to the reader - so it’s a little unsatisfying in that you’re left with some questions that’ll never be answered; I still really enjoyed Slasher regardless.
One of the many things I love about Charles Forsman’s comics is how unique they are. There’s nothing comparable to them out there and his stories are always imaginative, thoughtful, memorable, and so well put-together. Slasher is definitely a disturbing read but bold, challenging and gripping regardless.
اگه بنویسم دوستش داشتم مسلمن میشه از روانم خانشی خطرناک کرد ولی طول روایت واقعن به اندازه و کافی بود. خانش امروزی آرتیست از یک ژانر قدیمی فیلم ترسناک را دوست داشتم حتی جایی که دستان خدایگونه نویسنده به عنوان روایتگر احساس میشد قابل پذیرش بود. مسلمن مناسب هر مخاطبی نیست و فکر نکنم نتفلیکس از این اثر بخاد اقتباسی کنه
Super fucked up. Woman with knife/bloodplay fetish has a long distance relationship with abused teenage boy...who isn't actually an abused teenage boy but a guy pretending to be? I think? I couldn't figure out if he ever existed or if he was just some guy the catfisher killed. Pretty confusing, lots of killing and stuff. Worth the read, don't get me wrong, though if you're squeamish in any capacity I'd say skip this one, it doesn't pull any punches.
Quite possibly the most fucked up book I've ever read.
I'm not really sure how to review it. I guess it was a successful book in that it had a beginning, middle, and end? And somewhat compelling characters. Or just plain weird characters. It made my stomach hurt most of time while I was reading it.
I guess if you're looking for a stomach-churning read, Slasher would be a good choice.
Charles Forsman, the depraved lunatic behind the comic-turned-Netflix-series “The End Of The Fucking World,” is at it again with another twisted fairy tale of anxiety, dismemberment, and misdirected love. If it’s possible, “Slasher,” his graphic novel about a latent serial killer discovering her passion for murder, is even more shocking and graphically violent. I’m going to be very clear: “Slasher” is not for everyone. A lot of people will dismiss it as trash, but I found it to be a stunningly subversive piece of work; bloody and tough to handle at times, but sometimes art demands a strong stomach.
Forsman’s titular slasher is Christine, a low-level data entry specialist who, spurned on by the grisly internet videos of a disabled (maybe just mistreated?) teenage boy, realizes that killing is a pretty effective way of dealing with the slights and indecencies of life. Whereas Derf Backderf’s brilliant “My Friend Dahmer” examined the way neglect and mental illness can turn a troubled boy into a murderer, Forsman doesn’t waste any time delving into the psychology of Christine’s addiction. He revels in arterial spray and severed limbs, not the why’s and how’s behind it all. But “Slasher” isn’t just exploitation. Like “The End Of The Fucking World,” its black heart yearns for acceptance and understanding. That really seems to be the unifying principal of Forsman’s work: the way the impulse for connection can be deformed by visceral action, which is so much easier than being emotionally vulnerable. Or maybe I’m just reading too much into the book, trying to assign some broader meaning to all the carnage, to make it seem loftier.
“Slasher” is not - I repeat: NOT - for the faint of heart. But if you let it work its way in there, you might be surprised how sweet it can be. Don’t get me wrong: “Slasher” is a sick piece of work but sickness and genius are not mutually exclusive.
I remember reading the end of the fucking world a few years ago and being into it for how strange it was.
This was also strange but not in a way I really enjoyed, at all. There were some interesting bits, I don't mind the violence and gore, but the characters were super flat and not very interesting, I wanted a little more from them, even though the main character was DOING fucked up and interesting things.
It's hard to explain without going into the plot (which, what?) but I didn't really like this book, is basically my point. A big old, ehhhhh?? at the end of it.
This book was extremely disturbing and honestly really poorly written. On the other hand the art was insanely good and I found my self copying it for hours. That’s until I read the ending. Trust me you can go with out reading this graphic novel.
another creepy graphic novel, but this one misses the mark and just feels edgy for the sake of edgy.i love the grotesque art style but it feels meaningless when you give the characters no deeper meaning. I like my psychosexual gore with a bit more character depth
One of the most bizarre books I've read this year. I guarantee you haven't read a book like this. Charles Forsman is a very unique cheator. I really love the work he is doing. Each book seems to be better than the last.
Un autore decisamente eccentrico. Se lo conosci e conosci qualche sua opera o solitamente come lavora, sicuramente lo amerai e troverai in questo fumetto molti aspetti che lo rappresentano, altrimenti non è un'opera che apprezzerai. Slasher non è uno dei suoi migliori lavori e in alcuni punti un po' caotico, ma apprezzabile e lo si legge con facilità e scorrevolezza.
I got a copy of this while awaiting The End of the F*cking World, which is almost impossible to get ahold of right now due to its (quite amazing) Netflix series. I’ll begin by saying, this is not what I expected.
Forsman has a unique way of bleeding dark elements together and getting to the underbelly of human experience and interaction that I think is really valuable, if not downright chilling. Slasher is incredibly dark and I felt not redeeming for the lead character as it could have been and that I would have hoped for.
The story is more complex than at first glance, but the nuance for me was undone by the lack of character development and failure to give the leading lady room to grow.
I am teaching a YAL class in spring 2024 and have us reading one of two of Charles Forsman’s best-selling graphic novels, The End of the Fucking World, a kind of grimmer, less hopeful version of Bonnie and Clyde (and made into a tv series), and I Am Not Okay With This. Both stories feature lost, self-destructive girls making bad decisions.
Goodreads ratings indicate that most readers hate these books, and do not sympathize with these girls in any way, and I get it; they are deeply disturbing on some level (or levels)! Why suggest impressionable young people read them? Well, I guess I would say that I am interested in introducing people to a wide range of examples of YAL, and Forsman’s work has a kind of punk sensibility, a kind of rage I don’t see in many other books. He connects to an audience that exists, people that hate “literature” but maybe are as messed up as the kids in Forsman’s books. He gets them. And he has nothing uplifting to say about them or their lives, but shows them in all their messed-up-ness. But I would never assign a nihilistic book; they are out there and I have one-starred them and railed against them. I don't think this is nihilism. But I can see that many people might find it to be so. At a glance it has five star and 1 star reviews, equally passionate.
When I first read Slasher, which also features a messed-up woman, I tossed it down, committed not to review it. I felt I couldn’t write anything useful about it. I avoid slasher films and comics; too close to despair and a certain kind of madness for me. Christine is not a girl; she’s a woman, a data-entry specialist who meets an emaciated boy online who makes knife-play videos. She buys a knife and then, well, bad things happen (see title); she seems to find her true purpose. Or maybe its just a fetish at first. And through this process she connects with the boy. Listen: I don’t like the story, I don’t like her, but on second reading I saw some vulnerability in Christine, some twisted connection to the boy. Call it love? Don’t blame me if you read it and hate it; I’m just a reviewer who finally decided to review it; just the messenger here!
Forsman is a good, simple, unaffected artist, not fussy, a minimalist, no psychological explanations or justifications for Christine. I don’t recommend anyone read this book, really, but you may be intrigued to check it out. I can’t say Forsman has no heart, but he gets too close for me to darkness, and this one is the darkest of the three I have read from him. Maybe I'm just squeamish. But he even authors it as Chuck Forsman instead of Charles. Maybe he means to distance himself from the darkness of the book. I have no idea.
Ожидал продолжение треша Revenger, но нет, Slasher — совсем другое произведение, которое начинается как The Extremist Питера Миллигана, а потом плавно (или резко, смотря как посмотреть) возвращается на более традиционные Форсмановские рельсы в духе The End of the Fucking World.
Тихая офисная работница обнаруживает в себе тягу к играм с ножами в сексе, знакомится и начинает переписываться с режущим себя на камеру дистрофичным парнем, живущим с безумной мамашей, а дальше история начинает крутиться и так, и эдак, и местами заходит в куда более тёмные области, чем мне лично было комфортно (поэтому не могу сказать, что комикс мне понравился, хотя он со всех сторон стоящий — и в проработке персонажей, и в сюжетной части, и в визуально-эмоциональной).
Очень понравился случай из жизни автора, который он приводит в письмах, а само произведение рекомендую только стойким духом (по мясной части). Остальным я бы советовал прочесть старенький уже, но очень достойный The Extremist, более ориентированный на эротическую составляющую (не визуально, а по тематике).
P.S. Catfish (2010), который мельком упоминается в комиксе, тоже рекомендую. Классное кино, и до сих пор, я уверен, злободневное.
Un descanso de lo que hay en el mercado de comics actualmente!
Slasher tiene lo que me gusta en los comics, no hay miedo de contar la historia no importa que tan loca o enferma sea. En este caso, la historia llega a ser algo enferma.
El comic comienza a contarte la historia de una morra que trabaja en un supermercado. Rodeada de acoso, un mal ambiente de trabajo y su vida personal llena de estrés, encuentra un escape al conocer un morrillo en linea con el que ocasionalmente se manda mensajes y con quien comparte un gusto poco común. Lo bueno comienza cuando te comienzas a preguntar que tan lejos podrá llegar esta morra en su intento de escape de su vida "cotidiana".
Al principio se lee un poco como un comic predecible pero... Sorpresa, ni madres, pishis plotwists alterados.
Hubo varios puntos durante la historia en la que el comic me asqueo, no por ser malo, si no por ser muy bueno en la ejecución de las ideas. La densidad del estrés en la trama y el ambiente tenso se transmiten muy bien al lector.
Este es el tipo de comic que incuye diálogos como (parafraseando): "Recuerdas cuando estaba en la primaria y un niño se cayó, se abrió la cabeza y había sangre por todos lados? Bueno, ese fue el día en que tuve mi primer orgasmo".
Esta historia se me quedará grabada por mucho tiempo. Muy recomendable!!
My kids and I watched THE END OF THE FUCKING WORLD together. It was a bonding experience, so I started buying Charles Forsman’s comics for us to read. I guess I wasn’t the only one, because the one adapted by Netflix is hard to get, but his others aren’t. I read I’M NOT OKAY WITH THIS, and it was okay, then I read SLASHER, which is drawn in a more realistic way, with some nice brush work, and tells a story that pushes the extremes hinted at in his other work. I’m not going to judge a woman who is sexual aroused by blood, in love with a malnourished masochist, who goes on a killing spree, I’m just not going to seek it out. The work is disturbing, and artfully done, but fetishizing violence is less appealing to me nowadays. Maybe I missed some deeper intent here or I’m an asshole. Take your pick. I’m comfortable with either.
This book is bizarre, disturbing, grimly erotic and dreadfully visceral. Charles Forsman once again showcases his talents and brings his extremely unique brand of graphic novels and pushes it past its disturbing limits. A tragic study of a girl called Christine, who in her own word is "just not normal" (After reading this book I'd probably agree), a girl fueled by her desires, however immoral the pursuit of them may be. There are some really graphic scenes throughout this book as a warning to those who may not be familiar with Forsman, it follows a similar concept and feel to his earlier books (im not okay with this and end of the fucking world) yet pushes the envelope in terms of its existential dread, its sexual brutality and its portrayal of broken people in a horrific world. I think at this rate someone should go check on Charles and make sure he's OK?
A very disturbing read that was captivating from cover to cover. Christine is a young data scientist who finds escapism in her fetish for knife/bloodplay. She begins an online relationship with an abused teenager in another state and rapidly begins to escalate her fetishes towards some grisly murders. This book does not let up on the disturbing stuff - the graphic content is vivid and very in your face. Definitely not a book for everyone, but I overall had a good time with this one. The narrative does get a bit confusing in the final third of the book, but it does make for some really unpredictable stuff. Charles Forsman's artwork is enthralling. The cartooning is loose but it allows for great juxtaposition for the violence depicted. There's an inherently nihilistic tone that might be a turn off for some readers, but for my tastes this book was executed well.
This book is my introduction to Charles Forsman’s work. I am aware of his recent Netflix adaptation, but I haven’t watched it. I mention this so as to let you know that I didn’t have any expectations or preconceived notions about “Slasher”.
I admit that this book has a morbid allure to it. I can’t really recommend it though. It’s gross (but I’d wager that most people who pick it up have seen much worse), it’s too brief, it can be a bit hard to follow at times, and it ultimately doesn’t have anything interesting to say.
Sometimes people are just born wrong. Sometimes people get lied to over the internet. That doesn’t necessarily make for a satisfying or worthwhile read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I don’t know how to feel about this. I was given it as a surprise gift because someone knew how much I loved the show The End Of The Fucking World. I have never actually read any of the authors work prior to this, but wow this is was Unexpected, unsettling, and at points made me vastly uncomfortable. It’s a graphic, graphic novel. Pretty sexual and pretty violent for such a simple art style. I actually really loved parts of this, it has a berserk, off the wall, often unseen perspective of a woman’s desire. But at the same time, man It was wild and possibly not in a good way.
Hmm... I thought I was going to love this. But it ended up being a cautionary tale to be kind to one another (as you never know the struggles someone is facing) and not to trust everyone you talk to on the internet as the world is saturated with catfish. The story was bleak and morbid, which I don't mind, but the characters and pacing didn't do much to add to any sort of real plot. Everything just fell a little flat for me. I've liked other work from Forsman, this just wasn't my favorite. 2.5 stars
A great graphic novel about messed up people doing messes up things to other messed up people. And it has a great twist partway through that escalates things in an excellent way. The art is top notch throughout. What’s it about? In what may or may not be an homage to the Giallo “The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh,” it’s about a woman with a blood fetish, and her long distance boyfriend who is a victim of Munchausen by proxy. I’ll leave it at that because I don’t want to spoil it, but this book will satisfy any fan of serial killers and generally messed up people making increasingly messed up decisions. Check it out!
I was wayyy more into this than I expected. This is the kind of horror story that I really enjoy. We are but a viewer in the lives of these people. No judgment, no catharsis, no epiphany. No big conclusion. The art is minimalist and raw but the scenes are so creepy that they'll stay with you for a while. At least, for me, they will. This is my first book from Forsman, I will definitely check out his other works.