Vision

by Julia Gfrörer

A vision-impaired, Victorian spinster in need of primitive cataract surgery has little time for herself between needing to take care of her demanding, invalid sister-in-law, and investigating her brother’s mysterious nighttime activities. To escape it all, she engages in a sexual relationship with a haunted mirror in her bedroom. Gfrörer’s delicate and dark line-work perfectly complements the period era of the book’s setting, bringing the lyricism and romanticism of her stories to the fore.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Horror, Fiction, Fantasy, Gothic, Historical Fiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published August 25, 2020

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

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Julia Gfrörer says her last name rhymes with "despair": Heh. Shudder.

9/21/24: Fourth read for my fall 24 ghosts/liminal space class, and I liked it even more for having read it--coincidentally, or are there really ever coincidences in the psychic realm?!--in conjunction with the Booker-shortlisted novel The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden that is also a brooding tale of sexual repression and other things I won't reveal as many around the world are just now reading it.

10/3/23: Second read for my fall 23 ghosts class, an "adult" graphic novel, dark, mysterious, dealing with sexual repression, sex, grief, and murder. It's comics horror. I seem to recall Rod Brown saying it was a version of The Yellow Wallpaper, and I like that interpretation. And it's--see title!--about vision--and I have been having a series of surgeries on my eyes for cataracts, retinal film, macular degeneration. Some books come to you as in a dream. . . or spirits whisper titles to your hungering dreaded soul. . .

This book is my third foray into the mysterious old worlds Julia Gfrörer is happily damned to inhabit. As always, in pen and ink only, the story of a vision-impaired woman (she needs cataract surgery) living with her brother and his invalid wife. No one sleeps well, adding to the sense of foreboding, the Poe-ishness of it. Sleep loss and dysphoria. There's murder, incest, lust, all of it just on the periphery of the imagination, with a touch of madness. Does no one ever smile in the worlds Gfrörer creates?! No, my friend, decidedly no. We only can have people haunted/possessed by deep longing, isolation, grief (including the loss of parents they never seem to quite get over).

The woman with impaired vision has a sexual "relationship" with someone (a version of herself? Another woman? Her husband, dead in the war?) in a mirror who can move objects, whom she speaks with, and who somewhat seems to control her. Note second link to title: A "vision" the woman has of someone in her mirror. When the eye doctor does some exploratory surgery on her eye, it is made to seem vaguely? sexual [Personal note: I have had several eye surgeries recently, Julia, and I have no erotic connection whatsoever from any of the treatments!), obviously invasive, and this weirdly erotic experience, observed by the woman's ghost/vision in the mirror, enrages this ghost. The good doctor's falling in love with her and he suggests they go "all the way" with the cataract surgery, as he kisses her on the forehead, and then there's more kissing later. Everything is suggested, nothing is quite known. Occupying liminal space! Quick tell me all the erotic eye surgery books you have read in the past. . . or ever?

Anyway, very moody, delightful story (like that feeling of dread in "The Fall of the House of Usher" and others), with that Victorian feel to the illustrations. Surrender with some dread to. . . to. . . your lover, as the book jacket matter suggests, or is it to your grave?!

[Juan Naranjo]

«Visión» es un cómic actual que tiene mucho de cuento gótico de terror. En él, una mujer adulta y soltera que vive en un caserón a cargo de su cuñada enferma, empieza a desarrollar una serie de obsesiones que la llevan a una espiral de locura y delirio.
En esta historia, lo paranormal (un espejo embrujado enamorado de la protagonista) se mezcla con lo cotidiano y lo más carnal. Muy carnales son, por ejemplo, las escenas sexuales del libro, sorprendentes por lo poco frecuente que es lo explicito en obras que no son de género erótico.
En conclusión: es una obra retorcida y visceral de la que es muy difícil apartar la vista, por mucho que tenga páginas enteras bastante perturbadoras.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

An NC-17 take on The Yellow Wallpaper?

Grieving the death of her fiancé, Eleanor Lutz finds herself living with her brother, caring for his invalid wife, losing her vision to cataracts, and doing the 19th-century version of a webcam sex show with the supernatural being inhabiting her mirror. Or maybe she's just having a mental health crisis?

There some shock value from the sex scenes and an extended scene that goes all in on the ol' injury-to-the-eye motif, but I didn't get much else from this dark and depressing dive into the abyss of human relations.

Trigger warning: sexual assault, incest, murder/suicide

[Kate Atherton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new favorite, to be sure, this comic has so many of my favorite elements ; thin, beautiful line work, a suspenseful story with fantastic elements, Victorian culture and medical procedures and, most importantly a clear beginning, middle and resolution involving a character I like and relate to. Full of Victorian symbolism and sexual repression this story is well told, not a panel too long or a plot point out of place and is a quick but very satisfying short story read. Will re-read and recommend.

[Blue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vision tells the story of Eleanor Lutz, who's grieving the loss of her husband in war and living with her brother to take care of his invalid wife. Her life is claustrophobic, made more so by the cataract that's impeding her vision. She has a rather lustful relationship with a voice she hears through her vanity mirror, starts an equally lustful relationship with her sister-in-law's doctor, all to escape the abuse from the invalid and the dread of her life. Though she gets along with her brother, the death of the wife shifts things in strange ways.

Julia Gfrörer's art is perfectly dark and expressive in the right places with lots of crosshatching and thin line art. The body, whether it's covered in layers of cloth and veils or naked and open, whether it's at rest and asleep or being cut open and bled, is rendered with great precision and detail, which add to the story in a visceral way.

Recommended for those who like mirrors, touching eyes and medical drops.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was recommended to me as a horror book and while it is haunting, I wouldn't describe it as that. It is gothic, weird and a short and sad story. It is a book about grief and loss that also has some explicit imagery involving a woman, her possessed mirror and a candle.

TW - self harm

[Briar Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eerie and claustrophobic. The visual medium adds a sense of intriguing and unsettling obscurity to a story this confined and psychological; much about the characters' motives, histories, and inner lives is completely left for the reader to infer from their actions and frequently strained or stilted dialogue, from their surroundings, from their facial expressions in close-up panels. The unchanging nine-panel grid layout enhances the sense of remove, even in segments that seem to represent Eleanor's subjective point of view (dreams, visions)-- arguably evoking dissociation and/or the numb despair that can come with prolonged grief.

Ultimately, this is a story about a person mentally collapsing under a lifelong-- or at least years-long-- burden of sublimating her own pain and her own desires in service to others, something that is partly self-imposed, partly the result of a family dynamic calcified into an unhealthy stasis, and partly because of Victorian society's stifling restrictions on (middle/upper-class) women.

But also there is a haunted mirror masturbation voyeurism scene. If you're into that.

[Matt Graupman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A subtle gothic romance with an aura of supernatural spookiness hovering over it, Julia Gfrorer’s “Vision” is an ethereal ghost story with a melancholy heart. Combining Kate Beaton’s sketchy looseness, Rick Veitch’s meticulous historical authenticity, and Jess Fink’s unapologetic eroticism, “Vision” is a Frankenstein’s monster of influences that come together to assert its own tortured identity. The slim graphic novel follows the exploits of a repressed widow as she tends to her brother’s sickly wife and, in her private moments, carries on an unusually intimate affair with the haunted mirror in her quarters. It’s a dreamy comic that feels spontaneous and diaristic, from its off-the-cuff linework to its voyeuristic tone. It’s not going to scare anyone - it’s not that kind of horror - but it’s the sort of specter that’ll definitely creep under your skin and keep you on edge. A beautiful, tragic comic book.

[Titus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a powerful, atmospheric reflection on grief, lust, loneliness, depression and sexual repression. Set in what I take to be the 19th century, it follows a young woman whose fiancé was killed in a war, who is now stuck acting as a full-time live-in carer for the erratic and abusive sick wife of her useless brother. From that synopsis it may sound like a fairly standard period drama, but in fact it's more like psychological horror – tense and dark, with supernatural elements – and it definitely falls into the category of "alternative comics", due to its scratchy, shaky lines and its expressionistic storytelling. This is a slight work, with fewer than 100 pages, but in that short space it manages to evoke its protagonist's inner life in a way that's not just convincing, but also fascinating and truly affecting.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

my copy of this book was delivered this morning, and i couldn't wait to get into it. i love julia gfrorer's artwork, it's incredible how well she conveys emotions. the ending was both a surprise and not a surprise. i felt vaguely uncomfortable the whole time i was reading, and i loved it!

[Sunny Lu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Victorian fever dream, freaky & visceral

[Graeme · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gfrörer’s uneasy horror and intricate line work fit well in this short Victorian story. And I always love inclusions of laudanum in 19th century lit!

[Przemysław Skoczyński · Rating 4 out of 5]

W wiktoriańskim anturażu wykreowanym przez Gfrorer więcej jest skomplikowanych i nie do końca jasnych relacji międzyludzkich, niż typowej opowieści o samej epoce. Szkicowy i dosyć szorstki rysunek świetnie współgra z treścią, gdzie z jednej strony widać ogromne pragnienie bliskości, z drugiej czuć silne napięcie wynikającą z dosyć opresyjnej moralności. Międzyludzkie więzi zbliżają się niebezpiecznie do granic przyzwoitości (duszna relacja między rodzeństwem), skrywane pragnienia symbolizuje tajemnicza postać w lustrze (chorobliwie zazdrosna o główną bohaterkę), a tłumionym negatywnym emocjom upust daje samookaleczenie. Autorka nie waha się konfrontować czytelnika z naturalistycznymi obrazami (zabieg usuwania zaćmy), a całość ma pewne cechy horroru, choć efektem jest raczej pozbawianie czytelnika tlenu, niż straszenie kogokolwiek

Świetna rzecz, nie mogę się doczekać lektury wydanego w tym roku przez Fantagraphics zbioru prac autorki

[(arc) · Rating 2 out of 5]

A thin soup. I just wanted more from this.

[Ryan Mandelbaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, Gfrörer proves to have an understanding for the quiet horrors of the unconscious mind more than just about any other creator working in the medium that I can think of, and Vision is just as masterful in it's subtle dread as any of her previous works. Vision touches on themes of sexuality and grief - sometimes so intertwined as to be difficult to distinguish - and the devastating effects of their repression, and how our needs to connect and be vulnerable are often at odds with the roles assigned to us by our peers as well as our genders. Vision is devastating and masterful in its ability to convey the creeping dread and guilt that we carry with us through our every day lives, and how sometimes these feelings can consume us entirely before we have a chance to escape them

[S.M. Jenkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eerie and erotic. This beautiful gothic tale starts with a haunted mirror, and unfolds into a story about a family haunted by death.
The ending surprised me. I thought the dynamic between the characters was interesting.
I've read it twice already. I shall be reading it again.

[Nore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mildly interesting but forgettable, in my opinion; depth of character is hinted at and the plot, while loose, wasn't terrible, but Gfrörer seems to rely heavily on the mildly grotesque to get her point across.

[Mateen Mahboubi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harsh ink on paper art makes this journey of sex, health (physical and mental) and family a somewhat jarring read but never dull.

[Jonah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I choose to believe this was gay

[Javier Alarcón · Rating 4 out of 5]

Duelo, deseo, cataratas, represión, entidades sobrenaturales y láudano en un cuento gótico con un estilo gráfico que recuerda inevitablemente a Eddie Campbell y cargado de imágenes poderosísimas.

Hay un momento que acojona genuinamente. Si lo habéis leído, ya sabéis cuál es. Si no, ¿a qué esperáis?

(Traducido por Montse Meneses)

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hadn't loved the previous Gfrörer I had read but it's been a long time and this one hit me good. Hallucinatory and strange, magically pulls of psychological horror in a way I don't think many could through comics. Perfectly restrained and tight.

[Just a Girl Fighting Censorship · Rating 1 out of 5]

19th century sexually repressed widow...nothing interesting or new, just gross.

Scribbled art style is not my taste and was difficult to decipher.

No reason to read this one, no redeeming qualities.

[Robin]

A quietly haunting gothic graphic novel, deftly executed by Gfrörer. My gut response puts it somewhere between "Huh?" and "Hmmm"; it's definitely a book that would benefit from re-reading once aware of the whole plot.

[Valerie H · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would be ok with reading a graphic novel that did not involve incest or gross things with eyes. Just for a fun change.

[Madi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Art, beautifully sketchy. Story, rough to get through.

[aiden :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

tag yourself I’m the homicidal woman with no direction in life who is in a d/s relationship with a mirror

[Lisa Chetteau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tout ce que j'aime : des petits traits, des drapés victoriens, des fantômes, de la mélancolie.

[diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

i don't have much to say about this one except that it's lovely to look at and menacing in a soft sort of way.

3.5/5 stars

[Sara]

La edición es preciosa, pero no sé si he conectado mucho

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very dark, very Victorian. This woman is clearly not in charge of her own life and it shows. Takes some of the control back by offing (potentially intentionally, potentially accidentally) her shitty, whiny sister-in-law, fucking her doctor, giving a sexy show to the spirit(s) that live in her mirror and then topping it off my possibly killing herself and her incestuous, messed up brother.

There are no explanations here; just a bunch of dark moments. Why can’t this woman get this surgery? What’s going on w this sick wife? Who is this voice in the mirror, and is it capable of more than just breaking the glass (I’m looking at you, scene where the dead wife’s coffin gets overturned). At the center of everything is this repressed woman Eleanor who could potentially have a happy ending if she could just get away from this toxic brother of hers…probably it’s Victorian society that’s toxic bc he’s clearly also very fucked up.