The Downsized

Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews The Downsized [Amazon, Publisher, Local Library] by Matt Howarth

Howarth Downsized

I’ve been reading Matt Howarth’s comics for over 25 years, and this graphic novel is definitely an anomaly: no aliens or electronic music or time travel or bizarre violence. It’s a terribly human story about the contemporary decline of the American economy and the atomization of our society. All the art is in Howarth’s inimitable style, and the characters’ expressions (verbal and visual) are engaging and believable. The end of it is a couple of pages of goofy sentimentalism that I could easily have done without.

Consider also:

  1. My Business Is to Create
  2. Moondust
  3. Scourge of the Gods
  4. The People of the Black Circle
  5. “Something struggled into the light. Will felt the presence of it before he could see it. He felt an answer to the long ache.”