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Leaving Richard's Valley
When a group of outcasts have to leave the valley, how will they survive the toxicity of the big city?
Richard is a benevolent but tough leader. He oversees everything that happens in the valley, and everyone loves him for it. When Lyle the Raccoon becomes sick, his friends—Omar the Spider, Neville the Dog, and Ellie Squirrel—take matters into their own hands, breaking Richard’s strict rules. Caroline Frog rats them out to Richard and they are immediately exiled from the only world they’ve ever known.
Michael DeForge’s Leaving Richard’s Valley expands from a bizarre hero’s quest into something more. As this ragtag group makes their way out of the valley, and then out of the park and into the big city, we see them coming to terms with different kinds of community: noise-rockers, gentrification protesters, squatters, and more. DeForge is idiosyncratically funny but also deeply insightful about community, cults of personality, and the condo-ization of cities. These eye-catching and sometimes absurd comics coalesce into a book that questions who our cities are for and how we make community in a capitalist society.
Richard is a benevolent but tough leader. He oversees everything that happens in the valley, and everyone loves him for it. When Lyle the Raccoon becomes sick, his friends—Omar the Spider, Neville the Dog, and Ellie Squirrel—take matters into their own hands, breaking Richard’s strict rules. Caroline Frog rats them out to Richard and they are immediately exiled from the only world they’ve ever known.
Michael DeForge’s Leaving Richard’s Valley expands from a bizarre hero’s quest into something more. As this ragtag group makes their way out of the valley, and then out of the park and into the big city, we see them coming to terms with different kinds of community: noise-rockers, gentrification protesters, squatters, and more. DeForge is idiosyncratically funny but also deeply insightful about community, cults of personality, and the condo-ization of cities. These eye-catching and sometimes absurd comics coalesce into a book that questions who our cities are for and how we make community in a capitalist society.
480 pages, Hardcover
First published April 2, 2019
43 people are currently reading
733 people want to read
About the author
Michael DeForge
70 books425 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 107 reviews
August 19, 2019
I don’t know what this book is really about, but I read it all the way through, page after page, and often enjoyed it. I think that I may have enjoyed it better in its original one-day-at-a-time four-panel web-comic (it was posted each day on Instagram) version, where, the jokes would have stood alone, and lingered for awhile. But when you are reading a basically 450-page collection of one-pagers where the plot is basically being invented as it goes, you have to move on, you have to get going. And I had to set it aside periodically.
I generally love Michael DeForge’s goofy alt-commix work and in the early years hoped to see him do more than short stories; this is by far the most ambitious project he has taken on, the longest form, I guess, though this is still a series of shorts, really, focused on a (human) guy named Richard who seems to be the leader in a small cult-of-personality world of weird animals that are all in love with him for no obvious reason. And based on the title of the series/book, some of them Left Richard’s Valley. I already forgot why.
It’s only fair that this review should ramble, so here we continue. . . . DeForge worked on the kiddie comics world, Adventureland, for 6 years, and he seems to be adapting this vibe to a more serious series of subjects. DeForge usually includes something juvenile/offensive in his work, like marking territory as his by peeing on a tree, and this is often juvenile (thank god he will never grow up), but it’s not vulgar, so I was thinking he may be trying to rope in the Adventureland crowd, too, to make it all-ages. Except it’s Instagram, so it’s the twenties/thirties hipster alt-comix crowd (including me, in disguise as a [nineteen] sixties guy, in his sixties).
Not much happens on any of the pages, really. Four-panel Instagram posts, boom, next day, boom. But here’s the flavor if it: A snake named Mark falls in love with a pile of rocks, then founds a(nother) cult known as the “Marksists”. A spider happens to sit on squirrel’s head, and the spider becomes a super model. A frog steals everyone’s snow shovels and starts a black-market snow shovel business. People within the cults fal in love, get jealous, are mean to each other, okay.
DeForge lives in Toronto so this is a kind of alternate universe Toronto, seems to happen in a park, where an area is called Richard’s Valley. What’s it about? Cults? The nature of family/friendship. Toxicity in the environment that seems to be also part of relationships. We need more empathy, we need to be less toxic to each other! It’s kind of dystopian, in that way, that the whole world is turning to shit and we just have to be nicer to each other. It’s fun, you can’t ask DeForge to be Dickens and create deep plots and characters, but if anything here sounds like your vibe, go for it. I liked all of it, really, but got a bit tired from the length. This will be basically the appeal for many readers.
I generally love Michael DeForge’s goofy alt-commix work and in the early years hoped to see him do more than short stories; this is by far the most ambitious project he has taken on, the longest form, I guess, though this is still a series of shorts, really, focused on a (human) guy named Richard who seems to be the leader in a small cult-of-personality world of weird animals that are all in love with him for no obvious reason. And based on the title of the series/book, some of them Left Richard’s Valley. I already forgot why.
It’s only fair that this review should ramble, so here we continue. . . . DeForge worked on the kiddie comics world, Adventureland, for 6 years, and he seems to be adapting this vibe to a more serious series of subjects. DeForge usually includes something juvenile/offensive in his work, like marking territory as his by peeing on a tree, and this is often juvenile (thank god he will never grow up), but it’s not vulgar, so I was thinking he may be trying to rope in the Adventureland crowd, too, to make it all-ages. Except it’s Instagram, so it’s the twenties/thirties hipster alt-comix crowd (including me, in disguise as a [nineteen] sixties guy, in his sixties).
Not much happens on any of the pages, really. Four-panel Instagram posts, boom, next day, boom. But here’s the flavor if it: A snake named Mark falls in love with a pile of rocks, then founds a(nother) cult known as the “Marksists”. A spider happens to sit on squirrel’s head, and the spider becomes a super model. A frog steals everyone’s snow shovels and starts a black-market snow shovel business. People within the cults fal in love, get jealous, are mean to each other, okay.
DeForge lives in Toronto so this is a kind of alternate universe Toronto, seems to happen in a park, where an area is called Richard’s Valley. What’s it about? Cults? The nature of family/friendship. Toxicity in the environment that seems to be also part of relationships. We need more empathy, we need to be less toxic to each other! It’s kind of dystopian, in that way, that the whole world is turning to shit and we just have to be nicer to each other. It’s fun, you can’t ask DeForge to be Dickens and create deep plots and characters, but if anything here sounds like your vibe, go for it. I liked all of it, really, but got a bit tired from the length. This will be basically the appeal for many readers.
January 19, 2023
Hay una escena de Fleabag en la que la protagonista confiesa entre lágrimas que lo que realmente necesita es alguien que cada mañana le diga qué ropa llevar, cómo comportarse, qué pensar, a quién votar.
En frío y fuera de contexto algo así suena horrible, pero puede llegar a entenderse esa necesidad de renuncia cuando la vida te sobrepasa y anhelas la (falsa) sensación de (extraña) libertad que da el no tener que decidir nada y tan solo asumir que las cosas son como son; disociar y vivir el momento justo en el que Sísifo observa cómo cae la roca ladera abajo una vez más.
Algo parecido sienten algunos personajes del cómic de Deforge cuando Richard, el líder de una extraña secta ubicada en un valle, los expulsa para siempre por romper una de las mil reglas absurdamente impuestas.
Tener que dejar el hogar implica para ellos el desarraigo más cruel, renunciar al amor y la protección de Richard, exponerse al mundo real donde ni las personas o animales ni los lugares resultan tan amables.
Es genial cómo el autor va conduciendo este delirio y muestra a estos animalillos viviendo una especie de 'come to age' forzoso para denunciar problemas auténticos que se imponen en las ciudades de hoy (aunque en el cómic se refleja Toronto): falta de espacios naturales, gentrificación, hostilidad, capitalismo, aislamiento, falta de comunidad.
'Más allá del valle de Richard' se disfruta a diferentes niveles, ya sea desde la ilustración o la técnica mixta con fotocopia tan chula de algunas viñetas como con los diálogos y los propios personajes a los que es inevitable no adorar.
Ternura y oscuridad en estas páginas, un combo al que no me resisto. Ojalá podáis echarle un ojo, aunque solo sea para ver cuánto brilla la cubierta o para sentiros menos solxs en vuestra ciudad.
En frío y fuera de contexto algo así suena horrible, pero puede llegar a entenderse esa necesidad de renuncia cuando la vida te sobrepasa y anhelas la (falsa) sensación de (extraña) libertad que da el no tener que decidir nada y tan solo asumir que las cosas son como son; disociar y vivir el momento justo en el que Sísifo observa cómo cae la roca ladera abajo una vez más.
Algo parecido sienten algunos personajes del cómic de Deforge cuando Richard, el líder de una extraña secta ubicada en un valle, los expulsa para siempre por romper una de las mil reglas absurdamente impuestas.
Tener que dejar el hogar implica para ellos el desarraigo más cruel, renunciar al amor y la protección de Richard, exponerse al mundo real donde ni las personas o animales ni los lugares resultan tan amables.
Es genial cómo el autor va conduciendo este delirio y muestra a estos animalillos viviendo una especie de 'come to age' forzoso para denunciar problemas auténticos que se imponen en las ciudades de hoy (aunque en el cómic se refleja Toronto): falta de espacios naturales, gentrificación, hostilidad, capitalismo, aislamiento, falta de comunidad.
'Más allá del valle de Richard' se disfruta a diferentes niveles, ya sea desde la ilustración o la técnica mixta con fotocopia tan chula de algunas viñetas como con los diálogos y los propios personajes a los que es inevitable no adorar.
Ternura y oscuridad en estas páginas, un combo al que no me resisto. Ojalá podáis echarle un ojo, aunque solo sea para ver cuánto brilla la cubierta o para sentiros menos solxs en vuestra ciudad.
November 6, 2019
A cult made up of people and animals, but mostly animals, lives in a Toronto city park. Established by the enigmatic human Richard, the cult exhibits many of the usual cultish characteristics, but most importantly, mind control and a blindly worshipful attitude of the members toward their leader. When a sacred rule is broken, a small faction is excommunicated and banished from the park to fend for themselves on the city streets. Further splintering of the cult occurs in parallel as the banished faction struggles to find shelter in an inhospitable urban world. This is by far the most melancholic and poignant of DeForge's work that I've read. It is much more serious and lacks the deadpan absurdity of books like Ant Colony. Thematically, it's quite expansive, not only covering much ground about community and interpersonal relations, but also delving into the fabric of city life over time and the forces at turns tearing and sewing that fabric. Perhaps in part because the story was originally published serially, the plot advances at a slow, meandering pace, broadening and deepening as time goes on, and requiring more patience when reading it in graphic novel form. I took my time reading this, almost out of necessity, whereas with DeForge's other books I've read I zoomed right through. A very unique work, and one the layers of which continue to reveal themselves upon further contemplation.
April 4, 2019
The best deforge book. just amazing!
February 27, 2020
Omar the spider is so handsome.
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December 22, 2022El valle de Richard es un terreno donde se ha instalado una secta en la que humanos y animales idolatran a un líder caprichoso que dirige el destino de sus súbditos con mano de hierro. Un grupito de alimañas se salta una azarosa regla y son desterrados del valle, por lo que tienen que empezar a buscarse la vida en una ciudad cercana. Este cómic nos cuenta las aventuras (y, sobre todo, desventuras) de este ecléctico grupúsculo formado por un perro responsable, una ardilla entusiasta, un mapache ególatra, una rana forzuda, una araña que quiere ser modelo, una culebra depresiva...
Debajo de toda esta locura subyacen un montón de temas interesantísimos que el autor trabaja con delicadeza, maestría y mucha acidez. En este cómic se habla de la necesidad de sentirse incluido y de formar parte de algo, pero también del aborregamiento social, de cómo la gentrificación ha acabado con la vida vecinal en las grandes ciudades o sobre cómo nuestra propia autopercepción nos juega a menudo malas pasadas.
Me ha parecido un libro divertido, original y afilado que esconde muchas verdades detrás de ese revestimiento tan surrealista y underground.
Debajo de toda esta locura subyacen un montón de temas interesantísimos que el autor trabaja con delicadeza, maestría y mucha acidez. En este cómic se habla de la necesidad de sentirse incluido y de formar parte de algo, pero también del aborregamiento social, de cómo la gentrificación ha acabado con la vida vecinal en las grandes ciudades o sobre cómo nuestra propia autopercepción nos juega a menudo malas pasadas.
Me ha parecido un libro divertido, original y afilado que esconde muchas verdades detrás de ese revestimiento tan surrealista y underground.
August 14, 2019
Simultaneously a meditation on gentrification, community, belonging and family, while also being a dumb comic about asshole animals that are absurdly drawn. I really like.
September 17, 2019
This was definitely a year of great graphic novels! Sweet and sassy - I really enjoyed the satirical perspective of this cute but chunky illustrated series. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth and reality of the narrative, which was balanced nicely with a simplistic drawing style (seems to be a current trend in indie comic but nonetheless is effective). I also really liked the shift of art styles towards the end, a great little touch to Deforge's abilities.
Although I liked it, I did find it to be a bit too long, and that it could have been easily condensed. I also think that some of the narrative got a little lost because of the four-panel structure (perhaps from being an Instagram-post series) in which I felt it jump around a lot. However, I don't think that affected the overall story too much and I think that the development of Deforge's unique characters was still enjoyable. Its hard to pick a favorite, but I love Lyle and his noise music the best. Overall, this was a great indie find and I will be looking forward to reading his other work!
Although I liked it, I did find it to be a bit too long, and that it could have been easily condensed. I also think that some of the narrative got a little lost because of the four-panel structure (perhaps from being an Instagram-post series) in which I felt it jump around a lot. However, I don't think that affected the overall story too much and I think that the development of Deforge's unique characters was still enjoyable. Its hard to pick a favorite, but I love Lyle and his noise music the best. Overall, this was a great indie find and I will be looking forward to reading his other work!
January 13, 2020
Graphic novels are one of the few types of books I will pick up randomly and give a try. The time commitment is usually minimal and the potential reward often worth it. In this case, I was perusing the shelves of a newly renovated branch of my local library system (and not the branch I usually visit), the shiny cover caught my eye, I flipped through some of the pages, and saw it was published by Drawn & Quarterly (kinda hard to go wrong with them, Fantagraphics, or Image Comics). But it was really the black and white artwork that drew me in--4 square panels per square-shaped book page packed with such a strange assortment of "creatures" (spiders that look like some sort of hand with fingers on both sides and a face in the middle; raccoons that looks like hearts shoved into sweatpants... stuff like this: 
)
The imagery has a sort of rounded, balloon-animal happiness to it, undercut by what feels like a dark acid trip (or, existential dread, but maybe these are the same thing--I'll let you know if I ever trip). If the artwork feels vaguely familiar, that's because DeForge worked for 6 years as a designer on Adventure Time (a cartoon so widespread I'm somehow familiar with it without ever having seen an episode).
It's challenging to characterize this book. Deals heavily with friendship, cults, and searching for one's place in society. And it is weird and funny in doing so. Richard, a human, is the defacto cult leader in a public park/forest. It would appear he practices polygamy, but all his spouses consist of small rock statues with faces drawn on them. Most of the animals lionize Richard, but a growing dissatisfaction reaches a tipping point once the many restrictions and rules Richard has in place go so far as to endanger one of the raccoons (Lyle, who is kind of an asshole). What follows is a split in the valley--those who remain vs those expelled for breaking the rules in order to save Lyle (those expelled end up in the city almost trying to recreate their own cult/utopia). The entire thing is heavily dialogue-based with frequent philosophical interludes and digressions.
If you've ever wanted to see a frog use a snow shovel or a spider become a professional hand model, well then, this is the right book for you!
)The imagery has a sort of rounded, balloon-animal happiness to it, undercut by what feels like a dark acid trip (or, existential dread, but maybe these are the same thing--I'll let you know if I ever trip). If the artwork feels vaguely familiar, that's because DeForge worked for 6 years as a designer on Adventure Time (a cartoon so widespread I'm somehow familiar with it without ever having seen an episode).
It's challenging to characterize this book. Deals heavily with friendship, cults, and searching for one's place in society. And it is weird and funny in doing so. Richard, a human, is the defacto cult leader in a public park/forest. It would appear he practices polygamy, but all his spouses consist of small rock statues with faces drawn on them. Most of the animals lionize Richard, but a growing dissatisfaction reaches a tipping point once the many restrictions and rules Richard has in place go so far as to endanger one of the raccoons (Lyle, who is kind of an asshole). What follows is a split in the valley--those who remain vs those expelled for breaking the rules in order to save Lyle (those expelled end up in the city almost trying to recreate their own cult/utopia). The entire thing is heavily dialogue-based with frequent philosophical interludes and digressions.
Because that's what love is, really: sacrificing every scrap of dignity, every principle or belief you've ever held dear, and the entirety of your mental and physical well-being in order to sustain a relationship with a sociopath who holds nothing but contempt for you."
If you've ever wanted to see a frog use a snow shovel or a spider become a professional hand model, well then, this is the right book for you!
"This is what family's all about: People you can't stand who stay clinging to the edges of your life for reasons you'll never understand."
March 1, 2020
I think this is my favourite DeForge book so far.
June 30, 2019
maybe the most I have laughed at any book ever...........I love Leaving Richard's Valley so much.........
September 4, 2022
Interesting ideas and zingers, but I couldn't take almost 500 pages of this.
July 21, 2025
DeForge's stream-of-consciousness plot line, dreamlike drawings that shift from cartoon to photograph to--bizarrely, wonderfully, briefly--3D figures, dialogue that feels absolutely rooted in reality to ground itself against the visual fantasy; wow, it's hard to pin down what I liked the most about this graphic novel.
I've been reading a lot of newspaper, strips, and DeForge absolutely nails the four-panel set-up. It's the perfect pace for a book of this length--easy-to-digest pages with the perfect pacing. I read most of this on the train, laughing out loud enough that I think the people around me were nervous. I took so many photos of panels on my phone. I wrapped up reading it on my couch, soothed by the conclusion where SPOILERS not too very much happens. It was a perfect weirdo book that I loved to live inside; I wish there was so much more to read.
--
2025 reread: Still loved just as much! Deforge has the four-panel rhythm down. One of my all-time faves.
I've been reading a lot of newspaper, strips, and DeForge absolutely nails the four-panel set-up. It's the perfect pace for a book of this length--easy-to-digest pages with the perfect pacing. I read most of this on the train, laughing out loud enough that I think the people around me were nervous. I took so many photos of panels on my phone. I wrapped up reading it on my couch, soothed by the conclusion where SPOILERS not too very much happens. It was a perfect weirdo book that I loved to live inside; I wish there was so much more to read.
--
2025 reread: Still loved just as much! Deforge has the four-panel rhythm down. One of my all-time faves.
December 27, 2020
Oh wow I LOVED this graphic novel and I highly recommend it to everyone. A funny, dark, clever, and heartwarming tale of friends who are banished from a cult and have to make it on their own. This had me laughing out loud and smiling ear to ear. I can’t wait to read more of DeForge’s work (and I can’t wait to read this one again in the near future!).
July 13, 2019
I enjoyed this 5 stars! So sweet and fun and full of my favorite character Omar and his boyfriend Paul. Spiders are valid!
August 8, 2024
My second book by Michael DeForge. Funky guy with some funky ideas.
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June 16, 2025the funniest Deforge book I've read so far
September 20, 2022
DeForge explores the idea of cults in this characteristically surreal and clever graphic novel. The simple design of the characters is made up for the sheer creativity involved. Although I think it was a little bit overly long, I still nonetheless very much enjoyed this book.
October 18, 2021
this was so fun and creative and quirky! a group of animals are banished from richard's valley, a cultish group living in a park in a big city, after breaking the rules to save one of their friends. it was a little long, and the ending wasn't what i expected, but it was a lot of fun. plus i think deforge drew one page a day, releasing the entire comic on his social media day by day, which is so cool!
June 7, 2019
An epic sprawling story of a group of animals who leave their utopian homes to venture to an alternate-Toronto in a world where human-animal communication is possible. DeForge takes his time with this one at over 450 pages, many of which nothing happens. A culmination the explorations of his previous works, this one is quite the ride. Simple storytelling and character building. I can see why this volume would be decisive but I was always along for the ride.
April 29, 2019
Eek! Plot wise I’m so here for this, interspecies cult!!! but it was a lil too all over the place for me? Like it might be my fav deforge book if it were trimmed 100 pages. But overall like all how work some genius, weirdo shit.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 8, 2019
Hilarious. A biting commentary on the cult of personality and the vast loneliness of life within a fractured and broken community. We all have a little Richard inside of us and a lot of his followers.
July 9, 2022
To chyba pierwsze tak obszerne dzieło DeForge. Prezentowane wcześniej jako webcomic w czteropanelowych dawkach, zmaterializowało się w całej okazałości po wydaniu przez "Drawn & Quarterly" w 2019. "Leaving Richard's Valley" niesie ze sobą oczywiście odpowiednią dawkę abstrakcji i nonsensów wymagających poskładania w głowie czytelnika, czasami wykluczających się nawzajem, a momentami tak rozproszonych, że nie sposób zamodelować jedynego słusznego odczytania tej fabuły. O czym to? O społeczności zorganizowanej na wzór sekty z duchowym przewodnikiem wyznaczającym zasady. O wzajemnym uzależnieniu, oddaniu i ślepym kulcie. Pojawiają się schematy - każda ideologia czy utopia generuje w końcu buntowników, wygnańców, kogoś kto się z zasad wyłamuje. W efekcie powstają nowe społeczności i kolejne zależności. Jest o autorytetach, które z czasem okazują się puste albo same sobie zaprzeczają. Jest o ideach tworzonych na marnych czy wręcz mylnych podstawach, jest w końcu silny nacisk na relacje oraz budowanie i zrywanie emocjonalnych więzi. Ten socjologiczny wydźwięk tworzy z "Leavin Richard's Valley" dzieło pojemne i dosyć wymagające.
Minusy? Przy całym moim uwielbieniu dla autora, muszę przyznać, że bardziej kręcą mnie jego zbiory shortów. Opowieść o Dolinie Richarda też zresztą najlepiej sprawdzi się w małych dawkach, bo funkcjonuje jako zbiór zamkniętych w czterech kadrach mini scenek, tworzących razem większą opowieść. W tym sensie widać, że całość powstała na potrzeby cyklu prezentowanego regularnie w sieci
Przy wszystkich szaleństwach i pomysłach autora "Ant Colony" muszę przyznać, że poziom absurdu nie sięga tu wyżyn zaprezentowanych choćby w zbiorkach z Koyama press. W sumie trochę szkoda, w myśl zasady, że czym bardziej odjechany DeForge -tym lepiej dla sztuki.
Minusy? Przy całym moim uwielbieniu dla autora, muszę przyznać, że bardziej kręcą mnie jego zbiory shortów. Opowieść o Dolinie Richarda też zresztą najlepiej sprawdzi się w małych dawkach, bo funkcjonuje jako zbiór zamkniętych w czterech kadrach mini scenek, tworzących razem większą opowieść. W tym sensie widać, że całość powstała na potrzeby cyklu prezentowanego regularnie w sieci
Przy wszystkich szaleństwach i pomysłach autora "Ant Colony" muszę przyznać, że poziom absurdu nie sięga tu wyżyn zaprezentowanych choćby w zbiorkach z Koyama press. W sumie trochę szkoda, w myśl zasady, że czym bardziej odjechany DeForge -tym lepiej dla sztuki.
July 25, 2021
Leaving Richard's Valley is a graphic novel written and illustrated by Michael DeForge. It follows the adventures of four animals banished from their idyllic valley to help a sick animal friend.
Set in a Toronto where humans, animals, and creatures have learned to communicate, it follows the odyssey of four animals banished from the valley commune of titular cult leader Richard as they travel to the big city and back again.
Leaving Richard's Valley is written and constructed rather well. DeForge's simple, curved figures are the foundation for a rambling narrative revolving around the lives of over two dozen characters. DeForge's work pokes fun at celebrity culture, nihilistic musical movements, the arbitrary quality of utopian cults of personality, unfettered capitalism, and gentrification. It's also about symbiotic relationships, what people owe to one another, the problematic qualities of love, and how various ethical systems play out. DeForge experiments with narrative and visual approaches, using the constraint of a four-panel grid. The art varies from stick figures to photorealism, and the narrative employs elements such as musical theater, documentary, and body horror.
All in all, Leaving Richard's Valley is a weird, witty epic tale incorporating the idiosyncratic visual elements and themes in this fluid, funny narrative.
Set in a Toronto where humans, animals, and creatures have learned to communicate, it follows the odyssey of four animals banished from the valley commune of titular cult leader Richard as they travel to the big city and back again.
Leaving Richard's Valley is written and constructed rather well. DeForge's simple, curved figures are the foundation for a rambling narrative revolving around the lives of over two dozen characters. DeForge's work pokes fun at celebrity culture, nihilistic musical movements, the arbitrary quality of utopian cults of personality, unfettered capitalism, and gentrification. It's also about symbiotic relationships, what people owe to one another, the problematic qualities of love, and how various ethical systems play out. DeForge experiments with narrative and visual approaches, using the constraint of a four-panel grid. The art varies from stick figures to photorealism, and the narrative employs elements such as musical theater, documentary, and body horror.
All in all, Leaving Richard's Valley is a weird, witty epic tale incorporating the idiosyncratic visual elements and themes in this fluid, funny narrative.
January 27, 2020
An absolute delight! DeForge deftly balances social commentary on gentrification, idolization and the search for a meaningful life with wry humor. The nods to Sondheim are a joy. Hands down the most meaningful graphic novel I've read.
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August 6, 2023I think my favorite DeForge I've read, helps that it was about cults. So character driven, with characters I loved like Omar and Ellie, grounded yet still absurd. I'll be thinking about this one for a while....
June 20, 2019
um...wat?! genius, perfect.
October 15, 2019
What a bizarre, yet whimsical, graphic novel.
August 2, 2025
“ALL IN ALL, IM PRETTY COMFORTABLE BEING WORSHIPPED. I USED TO WORRY THAT IF I EVER ACHIEVED ANY SORT OF PERSONAL OR PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS, I'D EXPERIENCE WHAT'S OFTEN REFERRED TO AS "IMPOSTER SYNDROME" BUT NO. NOW THAT MY DAY IN THE SUN IS FINALLY HERE, I'M CERTAIN I DESERVE EVERYTHING THAT'S COMING TO ME!”
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