One of Library Journal’s best graphic novels of 2021!
Centered around the aspiring actress Becca and her whirlwind rise to stardom, Everyone is Tulip is an original graphic novel that explores what it means to be a "star" in a generation that places more attention and value on YouTube clips and memes than it does Hollywood celebrities.
Becca Harper lands an acting role she didn't think would go anywhere, and suddenly finds herself flung into a "15 minutes of fame" that sees her likeness not up in lights, but in memes, reaction videos, and even conspiracy theories.
Donning the guise of "Tulip" for an experimental artsy video, directed by an affluent jerk (that she somehow ends up dating), Becca's dreams seem to have come true when her persona becomes the talk of the internet. With a sudden army of fans, complications arise when Becca begins to question whether or not she has the right to consider herself a star.
Created by indie comic all-stars Dave Baker ( Star Voyager - Seven's Reckoning , F*ck Off Squad , Night Hunters ) and Nicole Goux ( Shadow of The Batgirl , F*ck Off Squad , Jem and The Dimensions 3 , Murders ), Everyone is Tulip is a deeply psychological exploration of the new frontier of modern media and the discomfort of internet fame.
*Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.*
This graphic novel wants you to know that everyone is Tulip. And whilst you might be frustrated after reading that phrase about 1000 times in this graphic novel and still come out of this thinking “what the hell does that even mean?!”, I thought it began as quite a profoundly beautiful phrase. Tulip started off as a piece of art, a strangely beautiful creation and to suggest we’re all Tulip is to suggest we’re art too. But as the graphic novel went on, the phrase became one of a much sadder meaning as it moved to suggest that we all, just like Tulip, are vain and 2D, mere facades we create to portray to the outer world and social media. And when the façade slips away all that’s left is us, disoriented and saddened to not be able to be something so stunningly beautiful yet ultimately less complex.
And that’s exactly what this graphic novel explored. Through the duality of Becca and Tulip there sprung so many questions of what is more valuable, self-realisation or ultimate creative potential? How much of ourselves should we hide or sacrifice for those dreaded likes and followers on social media?
And the further touches on topics like sexual misconduct in the Hollywood industry, faking it to the extreme to make it in a tough world, the curse of creativity and fame, and many more relevant topics were greatly appreciated by myself. There was a lot going on under the surface of this graphic novel if you cared to look beyond the façade it ironically created for itself.
So, this really was a beauty of a graphic novel. Not just because it was illustrated and coloured magnificently, but because you needed to understand it on more than just a surface level to appreciate its profundity and see how it mirrors so much of society and its interaction with social media.
I received a free advanced reader's copy from Edelweiss and Dark Horse in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
Okay I have to say ... this was kind of weird. Not quite sure if even enjoyed it a little bit, but the artwork was borderline okay. Definitely not my style of graphic novels that I like to read.
Everyone is Tulip. Everyone is Tulip. I've read this sentence endless times now, and I still don't understand if there's a message behind it or just blank nothingness. I don't understand! And I didn't like it! It's true that I'm not a very artsy person, and I definitely do not know a lot about online performance artists, but I feel like this is something difficult to display in a 2D medium. And for me, it didn't go well.
Becca gains her 15 minutes of fame from a viral social media video where she keeps repeating that one sentence and it blows up. Her trying to become an actress led to this instead, which is a bit disappointing. This graphic novel displays the hardship behind actors and some ugly truths about Los Angeles and Hollywood. Becca needs to learn to handle her instant fame at the same time as trying to become comfortable with what she got famous for. Meanwhile, she gets betrayed by her roomate and producer, in what can only be described as a predictable plottwist. Becca's background story also doesn't help portray her as a better character, it just makes her seem self-important, naive and lost. In the end, we're not left with much, but again the cryptic "Everyone is Tulip" mantra.
I keep picking up Nicole Goux books because they look so good, but then they always have Dave Baker's words spattered all over them, and I have immediate regrets.
The art in this graphic novel is incredibly lovely, but that's about the only thing that worked for me. I couldn't bring myself to invest in the characters (who all felt very shallow), the plot was somehow both predictable and confusing in ways (mainly the off-shoots regarding a side character that felt very out of place), and I genuinely loathed the ending.
This book is so fun, beautiful, and has an awesome concept. I would 100% recommend it to people interested in living as an artist, or internet culture.
I have to deduct one star because... it’s Poppy. I followed Poppy’s story closely, and this just has too many similarities to her story for me to comfortable with. I wish the creators had just collaborated with her to create a comic straight-up about Poppy instead of in a sort of thinly veiled way. They give Poppy shoutouts in at least one interview I came across which I appreciated, but they seemed to suggest her influence was on the same level of other creators, when... I just can’t possibly see that as the case. This is a great book, but it’s Poppy’s story in too many ways.
Ok this was weird...but I kind of liked it. The art work was absolutely beautiful. I loved the pastel colors the artist used. It gave this really ethereal vibe throughout which fit the weird ass story. Becca has a dream that many do - she wants to be a star. Giving up everything she moved to Hollywood only to face rejections right and left. A chance opportunity rockets her to fame but it's not everything she dreamed it would be.
I loved how this showed the darkness in Hollywood. How judgmental and critical everyone can be. But also the pressures that one puts on themselves. The topics of weight, looks, age.. how you are supposed to be your character and not yourself. Everyone Is Tulip showed how fame can take over your identity leaving you to question just who you are.
The story itself and the characters were a little out there, but the overall theme I loved.
I really like the artstyle and the peachy colours but there's not much to the story. Call it art, call it reality I couldn't enjoy it other than the beautiful artstyle and the art sequence.
I knew from the moment I saw this in the new books listing that it would heavily reference an internet performer I really enjoy - Poppy, also known as That Poppy - but it's so heavy-handed, so blatant, that if you know who they're referencing, it's legitimately embarrassing. Like..... Tulip. Blonde girl with strong eyebrows. Hypnotically repetitive videos. Angelic aesthetic that becomes more corrupted over time. Really? Really? That said, I absolutely love Poppy's aesthetic (I cannot count how many times I've listened to I'm Poppy!), so on the visuals front, I really enjoyed this. I didn't enjoy the art in all of the panels (some pages are clunky; some of the art decisions are just.... bad, like Becca having no nose at all in most of her side profiles) but it was good enough to warrant three stars by itself.
The real issue with this is that the story is bland, predictable, poorly paced, and b o r i n g. The conclusion is rushed over maybe five pages; Paradox XL's misconduct is barely explored (); and the subplot with Paradox's assistant, whose name I've forgotten, was totally, completely pointless and served only to distract from the main storyline. Really questionable decisions here!
Three stars entirely because I really, really, really dig the Poppy aesthetic, and aesthetics have a way of getting me despite glaring issues. Read it for the art, but don't expect much from the story.
Despite the book being extremely gorgeous and with an interesting plot, I thought the end product was pretentious and the ending left a sour taste in my mouth. There's no "point" other than people invested in Hollywood/internet fame are stuck up and awful? Which just seems like a boring take when the author could have explored more of the nuance of having to live in those communities and keeping your sense of self. Also the reveal that Stanley/Paradox was stealing from an Asian artist and going NO WHERE with it was awful. White people steal from black and POC creatives all the time so the shock of Becca finding this all out and nothing happening or rather she chooses to keep being a part of the facade is super upsetting. Maybe its too idealistic to hope that Becca chooses to be better, but what even is the point of the comic.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
After reading this graphic novel, I really expected the creators at the end to express how they discovered Poppy and built their story from her reality, but sadly that wasn't the case. ~ UPDATE: After doing heavy research, they do admit that they took inspiration from her in an interview. So they at least admit it at some point.
Poppy took the internet by storm a few years back with her famous line, "I'm Poppy." Videos upon videos were filmed on her using this Poppy persona, and eventually what seemed like eerily cute and concerning took a deep dive into the weird, dark, and satanic. Literally, everyone who was anyone knew Poppy, and as her world came crashing down with allegations of stealing content, her truth was brought to light and everything changed. She's now doing better which is great! Still making music, but now she has her own creative say.
Going back to the book, the story did a good job bouncing between the past and the main character's current reality. It showed the emotional and mental trauma she was suffering as she struggled to get a job in Hollywood, and the pressures placed upon her once she did.
Los Angeles tends to chew you up and spit you out. This is what Becca is discovering as she goes to L.A. to be a star, and ends up serving bagels at a local bagel shop for five years, and too many auditions to name.
Then, she does a social media thing, and suddenly she is the talk of the town, but not in the way she was hoping to be.
Everyone is Tulip is that brief shot at stardom, the 15 minutes of fame, and she doesn't know how to make it work for her.
This is a study both about how social media is used, but also how people are used, and this is the story of all who want to go to Hollywood for fame and fortune. It is so special because it doesn't always work out.
One one hand I have sympathy for her trying to break into the business, despite never studying acting but on the other hand, she is a bit of an idiot, at the same time.
And I did want to find out what happened, in the end, so the story did deliver in that I was curious how it would all work out.
Thanks to Edelweiss for making this book available for an honest review.
A wannabee actress desperate to become famous gets her chance at being a celebrity when she hooks up with a pretentious photographer who Pygmalions her into stardom by making her the object of his latest project. This meditation of the nature of fame in the modern (social media addled, celebrity obsessed) world didn’t do much for me. The concept seems pretty trite and unoriginal. Very cliche about fame thrown into the pot and stirred. The characters weren’t especially likeable. Or original, either. The art was too manga-styled for my liking. And then there was a thoroughly precocious gigantic afterword (complete with plenty of footnotes) which kind of came across as pretentious as the book’s photographer (whatever his stupid moniker was) when he expounds clichés about art, albeit the afterword was obviously very serious and the photographer dude was meant to be a satire. Decent enough, technically. Quick read too, but that’s about it, really.
A arte da nicole goux é perfeita, já a história é meio confusa. é interessante a premissa, parece que vai abrir várias tramas super complexas e no final nao entendi qual foi o ponto de tudo com o fim abrupto daquele jeito kkkk
just really trite. doesn't bring anything new to the table re: hollywood fame story and the Poppy inspiration was so obvious that it felt a bit disingenuous to not even include her name in the way-too-long essay at the end
When a young girl Becca finally leaves her home town, she figured conquering Hollywood would be a lot easier than it is. With little help from her roommate and BFF Eve's advice, Becca falls into a wild art project that has her questioning her entire existents. Everyone is Tulip surprised me. I wasnt expecting it to hit the heart strings as hard as they did but here we are. This book does a great job of capturing a young persons social media identity crisis. Figuring out who likes you for you and who is using you for your character can be hard. Your best friend being your competition in every way possible, even harder. But the worst is when you realize that the cage you made is better than the one you have back home and that's where the book killed me. A bit of a mix between Snot Girl and The Me You Love In The Dark, I am afraid this series will be over looked because its story isnt as soft as the art is. Which is amazing. Nicole Goux does a great job with the art and especially the fashion. The fact that her name isnt on the goodreads listing, Tragic.
I'm not sure how I feel about this one. Poppy- oops I mean Tulip - is a character Becca plays in internet performance art videos. It was a gig she stumbled into when she was looking for acting auditions, but it basically makes her famous overnight. Most of the story is about her "becoming" Tulip, and where they're going next with the videos.
There was a subplot with Stanley/Paradox's assistant (did they ever give her a name??) and her son and life outside of the art, but I honestly wonder what was the point of that? There were a lot of scenes between her and her son that seemed to go nowhere but felt like they should have had more to them.
I did really enjoy the art and all of the outfits they put Tulip in. But I think this mostly made me feel like everyone is fake and kind of selfish and awful. And that maybe I want to stay away from social media for a while.
The story gets lost pretty quickly in an art imitating life imitating art spiral. It seems that that's kind of the point, though. I think it tried too hard to make a profound point and felt a little slimy when it got there and kept going. The side stories didn't add hardly anything. The art was a lot of fun, and the comic as a whole was very pretty to look at, though!
I don't always get performance art, so I didn't really get this. Aside from the performance art part of it, I did like Poppy's backstory and journey. And the art was great.
A tale as old as time: getting out of your shitty hometown to live your dream of being an actress in L.A. After months (years?) of trying to get a gig and living from paycheck to paycheck (and working at fast food chain to fast food chain), Becca finally lands a gig with a weird avant garde YouTube film creator. She's an overnight success, as long as she lives as her character: Tulip.
I got strong Paradise Kiss vibes from this. Mostly the art and the character design, but a little bit of the drama too. I felt bad for Becca as she escaped her hometown with her maybe-boyfriend and her drunk father only to fall in with a similar situation in L.A. with a maybe boyfriend/employer and an apathetic roommate.
In the end it comes down to the choices Becca needs to make, who she lets down, and how she views herself to please her fans, her friends, her so-called friends. It's called "art" and "acting" but what it really is is another soul-sucking job to make enough money to go on "living".
THANKS TO THE LIBRARY FOR LENDING ME THIS...I PROMISE I'LL BRING IT BACK.
This was a strange fish of a book, I had the feeling that it was going to go somewhere profound and meaningful, and well that never really happened, instead it just kind of petered out. Although this is an enjoyable enough read with reasonable art work, but I don't think it quite made the point it set out to make in the way it would have liked?...
The videos themselves reminded me of those awful, random OTT ads for perfume you used to get in 90s, which is obviously what this is mocking to an extent, but then at the end they added a fairly lengthy spiel about the background and process to making this book, and I am not sure that was a great move either.
An introspective look at what lengths one will go to in order to find success and what it can inevitably do you to along the way as you come face to face with your insecurities as well as your past.
Everyone Is Tulip is about aspiring actress Becca who stumbles into a life of internet fame after starring as Tulip in a digital art piece directed/produced by cliche-spewing Paradox XL (or Stanley). Dealing with the consequences of going viral, the story reflects back on how Becca came to live in LA and the things she's given up to get there - and what more she's willing to give up to really make it.
I feel like this might actually be more like a 3.5 but when I sit and think about how I felt after reading it, I just didn't quite tip over into "I really liked it" territory, it kept middling out into "I liked it." I liked the ideas of it, I liked a lot of the themes explored (identity and personas, giving up yourself to get what you want/playing the game to make it, even art theft, etc.), but I felt like something was missing.
Maybe I wanted more? Maybe I wanted the build towards Becca's ultimate decision to be a bit more...gradual?
Still, I generally liked the art and the exploration of themes, and I also liked the subtlety of the characters' internal worlds. No outright explanations or internal monologues or diary entries, yet I still felt like I knew what was going on inside their heads.
Overall, I liked Everyone Is Tulip even if I thought it could have been better. I liked the hypocrisy and the messiness and the sad reality of performance and fame. Also I do have to say I loved the fashion in the performance art pieces throughout, which were absolutely incredible.
I wish there were half stars on GR, this is a 2.5 for me.
It was just pretentious. That's pretty much it. The artwork was nice which is why this is a 2.5 instead of a 2. If you're not into pretentious graphic novels about art then skip this one.
For anyone getting through to the end, please read Dave Baker's afterword/recounting of how this book came to be. It is a beautiful piece of writing about the nature of art and the artistic journey.