Blot

Tom Neely — 2022

Out, out damn blot, but it won’t come out -- it just keeps growing. That’s something of the premise behind The Blot by Tom Neely, one of the most bizarre and original graphic novels I’ve read this year. In a crisp, clean, yet utterly surreal drawing style, Neely depicts the odd adventures of an Average Joe whose face is periodically ravaged by a giant ink blot. The man tries to escape the blot, control the blot, even meets a woman who helps him understand the blot. [...] What starts out as semi-humorous and absurdist gains depth and poignancy -- a luminous quality, a quality of something pulled whole out of the subconscious, permeates the latter portions of The Blot. -Bookslut.com

Reviews

Gavin@gl

Mar 9, 2023

Masterpiece with several sources of strength. First is the aesthetic and the fast beats inspired by gorgeous classic American animation (yes, animation). Neely’s panels have more movement in them than any other comic I’ve read, partly down to the stick figures with arms as long as legs. Then he slaps that naive style against horror and nudity. Then he manages to make the blot moving without being totally clear in the allegory. Is it depression? No, it also makes people recoil. Leprosy? No, it makes a doppelganger who he must kill. It inspires kindness from a woman and allows him to fly. Edward’s scissors then. It blooms and withers. Is it sin? No, it decreases after sex and murder. Is it rage? No, it’s something cooler than that. It is domesticable. It unites lovers. It leaves when she leaves. Magritte Mouse.