Chloe

by Hans Rickheit

The Xeric-Winning debut graphic novel by Hans Rickheit, creator of the critically renowned The Squirrel Machine. Chloe is an estranged teenager living in a stifling rural New England town. After meeting an eccentric dwarfish hermit, she begins a descent into impossible visionary landscapes, sexual deviancy, and the forbidden realms of The Under-Brain. Contained in this early effort are the first explorations of the obsessive themes that continue to overflow in Rickheit's comics output: strange biological couplings, subconscious explorations and unspeakable erotic experiments.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Graphic Novels Comics

134 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Hans Rickheit has been an artist and cartoonist for over 25 years with a devoted following of readers and fans. His comics and drawings have entertained and educated people worldwide, having been featured in publications such as THE STRANGER, KRAMER'S ERGOT, PROPER GANDER, PAPER RODEO, LEGAL ACTION COMICS, BLURRED VISIONS, HOAX and TYPHON. In addition, his work can be found in other media, from posters and TV shows to movies and art galleries.
Currently living in Hawley, Massachusetts, he is the man responsible for CHROME FETUS COMICS and the Xeric-Award Winning Graphic Novel, CHLOE (200?), with the latter being serialized online as you read this. Recent published works include THE SQUIRREL MACHINE (2009), and the newly released FOLLY (2012), both from Fantagraphics Books. Original, ongoing serialized projects include the comics ECTOPIARY--a six hundred page graphic novel in the making--and COCHLEA & EUSTACHIA, a story that Hans promises will be "completely unencumbered by tempo, character development, plot, or logic."

Reviews

[Tony Vacation · Rating 4 out of 5]

A grim yet oddly touching exercise in Cronenbergian imagery and teenage alienation, Chloe is Hans Rickheit's sparse and sometimes stylistically crude debut. Oddly enough, I enjoyed this more than his follow-up, the decadent and ornately psychosexual the Squirrel Machine, which should have been right up my alley with all its detailed drawings of machinery and bodily orifices intermingling. (I am a hit at parties.) Regardless, this is worth a read and deserves a reissuing from some kind-heated and understanding press (Fantagraphics, I'm looking at you.) Until then you can read it here for free: http://www.chloecomic.com/page001.html

(Warning, this is NSFW reading if your work has a problem with explicitly rendered twenty page sex scenes featuring a dwarf, a teenaged girl and a multi-legged, multi-tentacled and multi-orificed creature.)

[CS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bullet Review:

This writer/artist is completely insane - but maybe not as bad as I've become. Because I went from being like, "WHAT AM I READING?!" To "OMG THIS IS NUTS I MUST READ MORE!"

"Chloe" has the most "linear", coherent of a storyline of all of Rickhelt's work and despite weird sexual situations (no, really, they are WEIRD and hugely NSFW), it's probably one of my favorites of Rickhelt's.

Yes, you heard me! I now have a favorite!

I just hope the FBI don't realize I checked this out and arrest me for the sexual perversions in here.

[Nate D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extreme teen alienation, squeamish Hans Bellmer-meets-Cronenberg erotica, and maybe early-onset-schizophrenia. Actually bleaker and angstier than Squirrel Machine which makes me appreciate that other work a little more -- it sounds a few more notes effectively.

[Emma Alice Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly Subtle For Something So Messed Up

The style of art is disarming. It looks sort of innocent. Looking at the cover, I never suspected the depths of depravity I would find inside. This contains one of the most disturbing sex scenes I have ever seen in any comic book, and I have read a lot of screwed up comic books. It goes on for pages. There are births. There's bloodshed. Things are entering every which way and exiting and wow. This book is worth checking out if only for that scene, but there's a lot more too.

[Daniel Stephens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful and bizarre graphic novel about teenage alienation.

[ChiliCayte]

I may have missed a thing or to in regards to metaphors, but I definitely picked up on the themes of teenage alienation and the curiosity towards sexuality
as a psychology major, this was very interesting to read
with a quarter left in the book I realized I smoked earlier. wild experience

[Sofia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This feels like a damn weird piece of criticism, but dude could really learn from recent developments in amateur hentai, compression, et al...

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to say the least

[Bandit · Rating 1 out of 5]

This graphic novel was very much like the inside of someone's sexually perverse demented nightmare. I don't consider myself a prude, but I found it pretty disturbing. The art itself (with exception of the creatures) was very minimalistic to the point of nondescript. The subject matter was bizarre, maybe it could be filed away as bizarro. Overall a shocking but not particularly enjoyable read.

[Derek Royal · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading The Squirrel Machine and Folly, I hunted down Chloe, and luckily, I found it online at Rickheit's website. Although I can tell this is an early work, it's a wonderful narrative, and it anticipates many of things you'll find in his later stories (collected in Folly) and The Squirrel Machine.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book, though it didn't pull me in as much as/wasn't quite as charming as The Squirrel Machine. Next up: Chrome Fetus issues!