How Loathsome - Mobile Edition

Queer Comics
How Loathsome
By Hervé St-Louis
June 20, 2004 - 08:57

NBM Publishing
Writer(s): Ted Naifeh, Tristan Crane
Penciller(s): Ted Naifeh
Cover Artist(s): Ted Naifeh

Just like the transgendered characters it depicts, How Loathsome is a story where one can never guess or trust what one sees. Transgendered folks have a way of confusing people who need yo categorize human beings in order to understand them. This story offers an insight into the minds of those unusual people. This graphic novel is a collected edition of a four parts' mini-series.

Parts of this story contained as many paradoxes as a time travel tale. Once you accept that one of the guys (who dresses as girl) only dates other guys, it becomes confusing to readjust and understand when he gets a crush on a girl who only dates other girls, but who dresses as guy. Interwoven within the narrative were segments that told similar conflicting stories about gender.

I first heard of Naifeh when he worked on Dark Horse's The Machine. I liked his work then, and still do. It's crisp and textured, yet stylish with tight inks. Naifeh's character design suits their ambiguous nature. He easily moves from one story genre and setting to another. His work on this series is that much of the storytelling occurs off page. Again it fits the story's feel.