Devastación

by Julia Gfrörer

En una aldea arrastra por la peste, agnès sobrevive de forma sobrenatural a una plaga que ha terminado con todo rastro de vida. Mientras los cadáveres se amontonan a su alrededor y el miedo y la desesperación aumentan, es ella la encargada de que todo siga funcionando con aparente normalidad. Un día, y tras dejar el cadaver de su hermana en la fosa común, se encuentra con Giles, quien está a punto de compartir con agnès la desesperanza y el dolor que el duelo deja a su paso. Juntos consiguen desafiar a la muerte con amor y, en mitad de esas pequeñas brechas de esperanza que crean en la intimidad, comparten sus miedos sobre lo que parece ser el fin del mundo.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Historical Fiction, Horror, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Adult

84 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2016

About the author

Julia Gfrörer is an American cartoonist, graphic novelist, illustrator, and author. Her work is often transgressive, invoking occult themes within an ambience of subtly observed historicist concerns.

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fun for all and amazing graphic novel both written and illustrated by Julia Gfrorer takes place in a medieval plague filled world full of rats, fleas, furtive couplings, and mass death.

The drawings are simple yet elegantly done in an evocative style. A distinctive yet haunting feeling runs throughout the work. There is no doubt that the times depicted here were quite grim. Ms. Gfrorer is a masterful storyteller with a distinctive gothic illustration style. There is also a theme of pain running throughout the work.

The story begins with a mother who seems to have lost her child and then goes about searching for her. She finds her child, Agnès, has been buried in the churchyard of a nearby strange town. The frantic mother digs up the baby to find her still breathing.

This story and its accompanying illustrations will stick with you due to its haunting, evocative, and masterful storytelling. It is highly recommended.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Julia Gfrörer likes grim. She may have been born in the wrong age. Not enough visible death around to please her today. She needs the Middle Ages. I reviewed her Black is the Color, and liked it, and that would be her favorite color, I know! In her acknowledgements she says her heart is black, and she thanks, among many others, “a mountain of corpses.” Ha!

This story is set in a medieval village, where the plague is taking many people. Think Bergman’s The Seventh Seal but without the jokes (yes, there were a couple jokes in that film!). The focus in this story is on Agnes, a young widow who seems to have some connection to the supernatural. It would appear to be the end of the world, like McCarthy’s The Road, as it surely may have seemed during the time of the plague in Europe then. As with Black is the Color, Gfrörer's delicate black and white approach fits the darkness and sweetness of a story where, as with The Road, a little goodness and desire remains. Horror and the erotic are always linked in Gfrörer's work, it seems. There’s a kind of romantic feel to all this gothic haunting somehow!

I appreciated the gothic nature of this as I have been reading Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle and Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping, which also focus on haunting and possibly desperately haunted women. Something Victorian about it. A touch of Poe. You have been warned/invited!

[James Francisco Tan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"There's nothing holy about suffering."

[Forrest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, grim, poignant. This little graphic, gothic missive is a jab of pain and hope. Quiet, yet profoundly moving in its sadness, emotional resiliency, and humanity. There is an expressionistic hint behind the flowing lines of the art that add an underlying tension to what is already a tense piece. In terms of length, it is a mere distraction, but a distraction that reaches inside you, if you linger long enough to let it. The afterglow of mixed feelings will stay with you for far longer than it took to read this little book.

[George Ilsley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Opens and closes with a page of fleas, so one star for each of those.

Medieval plague produces a confusion of death and is everyone named Agnes? Bleak, grim, and brutal. Absolutely morbid. And mercifully short. Plagues are never pretty.

At least there were fleas. And amorous rats. But no discernible story.

[Jara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Me esperaba más. Más allá de la fortuna del momento de su publicación y que la edición está muy lograda... no me ha transmitido mucho. Creo que el dibujo está muy bien pero falta trama. Me ha parecido simple. Un buen souvenir post-pandemia.

[Kirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite short.

I enjoyed it though.

It was depressing as hell, and the spare drawings created a dream-like state, and augmented the sense of emptiness.

It ends a bit abruptly. It’s a slice if life.

But it is good.

[Melissa Chung · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was sent this graphic novel from a friend a while back and finally picked it up. This is going to be a short review because it wasn't my cup of tea. Rating it 2.5 stars not because it was offensive in any way or there were any particular problems...I just didn't care for it overall.

Laid Waste is drawn in an "ugly" style if that is even a true definition of style of drawing. The panels are roughly sketched with no color. They are somewhat simple drawings with no abundance of background. There is little dialogue and the beginning was quite confusing, at least to me. Our main character is Agnes and she has suffered much turmoil from the deaths of her family, friends and neighbors. The story's plot is based on the black death or the bubonic plague.

There is a point in the book that had me pause. Agnes is talking to a neighbor who has told her his wife is dying. He needs comfort and in a very graphic sex scene all I could think about while scanning the illustrations were 1) I'm happy the artist kept Agnes's legs hairy because women did not shave back then and 2) after intercourse she did not wash her hands before continuing to make the bread that she left on the counter before the bodily exchanges. EWWW!

I'm sure this graphic novel is deep with symbolism and depth, but being an amoeba I didn't get it. Death happens to all and although it is sad, life still has to move on. "The world isn't ending. There are things that matter. We matter. "

[Ali_rpr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obra maestra, tarta la delgada línea entre la muerte, la desesperación y el erotismo de una elegantísima manera

[Adrián Ciutat · Rating 3 out of 5]

El dibujo y la edición me flipan pero la trama me ha parecido que, partiendo de una buena premisa, no se llega a desarrollar lo suficiente para mi plena satisfacción.

[Elfo-oscuro]

Lo he visto recomendado en los mejores comics de 2020 pero me esperaba mucho más de él. Esta bien como representación de la miseria que trajo la peste negra, pero tiene un dibujo muy simplista, siendo ademas en blanco y negro y un argumento que deja bastante que desear. No es ni siquiera de los comics que yo recomendaria, mucho menos de lo mejor de 2020

[Ostrava · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nihilism and love in the Middle Ages. Rushed and a bit unorganized. Feels like it should be thrice the length to be decent, but I didn't hate it.

[Maria Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

La reseña completa en https://inthenevernever.blogspot.com/...

“¿Es esto el fin del mundo?… Sí, creo que sí”.

En estos tiempos de coronavirus, leer sobre pandemias o la peste negra y sus efectos devastadores puede parecer un mal plan. Pero ya les digo que la recomendación que traigo hoy en el blog desafía esa lógica pues nos muestra que incluso en los tiempos más oscuros hay lugar para que la luz brille aún más. Devastación de Julia Gfrörer es el título elegido para estrenar la colección de Alpha Cómic, ¡y lo hace por la puerta grande!

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set during the Dark Ages as the Black Plague sweeps across Europe, Julia Gfrörer's Laid Waste follows the life of Agnes who questions why she survives when so few she knows does. In the fashion of any Gfrörer comic, there is ample grimness to go alongside the complex narrative. This is one of the tougher reads from her small but mighty comics oeuvre, particularly since the melancholy is so potent. Gfrörer comics are also packed with subtext that is important, and here understanding Agnes' story involves unpacking her pain through the lens of the hyper-religious sentimentality of the time.

Though the imagery throughout Laid Waste is steeped with the feeling of loss and death, particularly as a looming angel of death hovers in the backdrop across many of the panels, there is a ton of subtlety that Gfrörer engages in. The simple linework and blocky designs don't give off much information on a cursory read, so it takes some effort on the reader's part to decipher the intent and emotions behind each scene. It may not be for everyone, but I personally found this to be a brilliant comic and one of Gfrörer's best works. Especially since the ending will linger with the reader for quite some time.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hopelessness and grief during the Black Death. Very simple art style that sometimes worked for me sometimes did not. Rather basic story with not much to it.

[Mark Robison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a graphic novella for most readers — the drawings are simple, often there's little change between the panels, and many of the panels are focused at a distance from the action — yet I was intrigued, maybe because I'm reading this after the main surge of the Covid pandemic. It's set during a medieval plague with bodies everywhere and neighbors burning their kin out front of their houses. We follow a young widow named Agnes and everything is bleak, bleak, bleak. And then there's a little ray of hope, like a daisy poking through a crack in the sidewalk. And it ends. I like hope, even more when it's surrounded by ugliness and suffering. So this was a thumbs up for me.

[Kate Atherton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laid Waste is about how to go on when the world around you is in hopeless desolation. It follows the day to day minutia of two people, Agnes and Giles, in the midst of the bubonic plague : they live their lives and carry their loved ones and neighbors out to a ditch of dead bodies when they die. Agnes is distraught and completely hopeless at times but is saved by the promise of some love or friendship with Giles and the hope that the village will be cleared of the disease one day. The book is drawn in a crisp, old fashioned (almost museum sketch) style that is very pleasing and well designed. I do not understand the intro, necessarily, but love the harkening to classical paintings and medieval art work and history.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

This is my second book I've read by Julia Gfrörer, and I quite enjoyed it. The story was engaging and oddly hopeful, the characters were intriguing, and the art is lovely. Like with Black is the Color, I do feel like it might have benefitted from being longer, but it's still an enjoyable book with great vibes. I'd recommend checking it out. I hope to read more from Gfrörer if I get the chance.

[Anneke · Rating 3 out of 5]

that was fucking crazy. I can’t believe this was written in 2016 because it feels like something that was born out of COVID-19 anxiety. but maybe this feeling of mine comes also from the incorrect assumption that people have been far more distant from feeling the weight of pandemics than they really have been in recent history. also fucking unhinged sex scene and depressing ass Christian aesthetics. I was just perusing this book at work to reshelve and got sucked into it so I think it is successful. I appreciate the religious motifs but find it kind of soul sucking I don’t know. love the etching-esque aesthetics though.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars -- LAID WASTE examines the senselessness of disease, loss, and survival in the Middle Ages during the Bubonic Plague. This small corner of history will stick with you long after you close the cover, although the characters' manner of speaking (after the first page or so) seemed a little too modern.

[Javier Alarcón · Rating 4 out of 5]

¿Cómo que el cómic «Devastación» es una obra pochísima sobre el vivir rodeado de muerte y sin más atisbo para la esperanza que apoyarnos en quienes nos rodean?

¡Con ese título esperaba una comedia!

(Traducido por Montse Meneses)

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super grim.

[Mateen Mahboubi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read depicting life in the plague-ridden Middle Ages. A dark and sombre read but well done by Gfrorer.

[Reggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tiene secuencias sobrecogedoras. Visualmente, un pepinazo. Muy valiente por parte de la editorial estrenar colección con este libro.

[Lara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wuh.......?

That's kind of all I have to say about this. I...just didn't get it, I guess.

[Andrew Metadrouid · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gothic plague tale whose art uncannily matches its story

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just really beautiful

[Chris Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Julia Gfrörer's aesthetic. It's definitely not for everyone, but damn is it one of the best depictions of grief that I've ever seen. Her work is so human and deceptively simple. I don't really have anything more to say about it except that it's wonderful.

[Lupe Dominguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well this was certainly out of my usual norm but I enjoyed it. Quick read, but packs a lot of stuff. Gothic horror with romance, this tells the story of Agnes, who seems to have some type of supernatural connection (the only part to have stumped me really) during the medieval time period, perhaps around the Black Plague. Definitely different but visceral.

[Álvaro · Rating 2 out of 5]

Flojete.
Dibujo muy sencillo y repetitivo, y un guión que de lo simplón que es desaprovecha una buena premisa.
Se lee en poco más de 20 minutos, y más parece un relato de un fancine amateur que un cómic "profesional".

14 euros muy mal invertidos.