The Dregs Vol 01

The Dregs

by Zac Thompson, Lonnie Nadler, Eric Zawadzki (Illustrator)

A gentrified city. Its homeless population restricted to six square blocks called The Dregs. When people start disappearing, a drug-addled homeless man obsessed with detective fiction becomes addicted to solving the mystery. Equal parts Raymond Chandler and Don Quixote set in a thriving metropolis that literally cannibalizes the homeless, The Dregs is the first homeless meta noir ever made.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Graphic Novels Comics, Comix, Mystery

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 12, 2017

About the author

Zac Thompson is a writer born and raised on Prince Edward Island, Canada. He's written titles like Marvelous X-Men, Cable, and X-Men: Black for Marvel Comics. Along with indie books such as Her Infernal Descent, Relay, and The Replacer.

In 2019, Zac became the showrunner of the Age of X-Man universe at Marvel Comics. His critically acclaimed miniseries, Come Into Me, was called the best horror comic of 2018 by HorrorDNA. His debut comic series, The Dregs, was called "lowbrow brilliant" by New York Magazine. His novel, Weaponized, was the winner of the 2016 CryptTV horror fiction contest.

Reviews

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dregs is a dark look into the world of the homeless.

The story opens with a homeless person in the back of a restaurant getting shaved and then murdered and cut into pieces. Then once cut up they are fed to uppity uppity people for dinner and they eat it with a smile.

So yes...very dark opening and a sad look into the world 99% of people ignore, including myself.

Arnold is the main character here who is trying to figure out what's happening to the other homeless people around his town of Dregs. The story is a mystery in some ways, but it's main themes are showing how to survive on the streets. We take for granted sometimes what we have and Dregs shows you how little others have. By the end you're more consumed by the survival aspect and how Arnold survived so long verses the killing of the homeless for food.

Good: The dark and depressing setting never lets up, but it worked well here. Arnold is both a asshole and sympathetic and you can only guess how he ended up homeless. The everyday life of a homeless person is extremely hard to watch as well. The atmosphere is near perfect and the pacing is solid.

Bad: The art is solid but sometimes hard to tell what's happening. Mostly the backgrounds feel a little smudgy. The side characters too could have been more flushed out. I wish it was another issue long.

Overall, it's not a easy read but I think a pretty important one. A noir mystery with a main character you usually don't get. The world of the homeless is very sad but interesting. A easy 4 out of 5 on this one.

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

So that's what the proper way to slaughter a human looks like. The victim is quickly turned into (I'm sure tasty) sausages. His friend searches for him through the haze that is his drug-addled brain. He does the narration, revealing his paranoia, senseless connections and strange views on life. Though his investigation has circumstantial evidence, he reaches the correct conclusion every time.

Arnold is one of the homeless living in the Dregs. As soon as he is told Manny (sausage-man?) is missing, Arnold looks for his friend in the usual spots. The building Manny slept in is now reclaimed by businessman Beck Lasko. Arnold suspects that Beck or his people are responsible for Manny's disappearance and are now looking to remove him.

Arnold also falls in the trap that killed Manny, but escapes and continues his investigation. His path takes him to his old life in the high class part of the city, the one he always hated for its superficiality.

In a strange turn of events Beck himself welcomes Arnold into his cannibal-cuisine restaurant. The mayor supports Beck for improving the local economy and Arnold's homeless friends are lining up for the free food provided by Beck. Arnold is left alone. Even though he discovers the truth, nobody cares for it. He is left with a choice: 'You either get clean and escape or you die.'

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

5

Stylish and one of a kind storytelling. I purchased this years ago and was planning on reading and giving this away, but that won't happen now. This indie graphic novel by Black Mask is unique and has some odd moments. I've heard the name Zac Thompson recently and it's only fitting I would read an earlier work by chance. There's some solid storytelling here and I loved that they twisted the book into this crime noir. This may not be worth anything but I enjoyed this more than some of the top tier Marvel and DC titles. I also enjoyed that the story was in Vancouver as that's a city I enjoyed visiting when I found this comic.

[Devon Munn · Rating 3 out of 5]

While i did not care much for this, a few praises i can give is the premise, it's basically a mystery noir but set among the homeless community in Vancouver with subversive but true to life ending

[Ben Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in modern day Vancouver, THE DREGS is about one homeless man’s quest to find out why homeless people have started disappearing. Hooked on drugs and obsessed with detective stories, Marlowe finds himself caught up in a spiral of seedy characters and horrifying revelations.

The writing is smart, nuanced, and loaded with subtext. With a provocative concept and a sprawling storyline, the comic is based in real world issues but painted over with a darkly satirical brush. Coined as “the first homeless meta noir,” it’s a literary blend of Jonathan Swift, Raymond Chandler, and Warren Ellis (oh, and a dash of Bazterrica’s Tender is the Flesh 😳).

In other words, go read this graphic novel!

[Brian Dickerson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Dregs is a good read, but don’t expect joyful resolution at the end. More of a meta existential crisis. I guess it’s testament that the journey is sometimes more rewarding than the destination. The art was great and the storyline beautifully rendered. I just wanted more for Arnold than the realization that life is not always fair or close to our desires.

[Keen Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars!

I’m not sure why so many comics like these need introductions?...The one in here does absolutely nothing to enhance the story, but there we go. The book/reading analogies in here are somewhat overcooked and could have been toned down a little.

This starts off as a well-structured story with some fine art work and some clever artistic and playful devices at work, we enter a noirish “Soylent Green” Vancouver. Some wonderfully tantalising ideas and avenues open up, pulling us into an intriguing set up and then it just stops. There are some really sharp comments on gentrification and the scene where he buys back his own stolen jumper for $95 from a hipster store was particularly funny.

What a shame! This was going so well and it just ground to a sudden, abrupt ending and that was it. This could have and should have been so much more, but for whatever reason this just died at the end and leaves a stinking aftertaste. This is half of a potentially great story and a real wasted opportunity.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fulfilling as a message. It sought out to be a purposeful book, heightening homeless awareness and I believe it achieved just that.

As a “horror” story, this doesn’t quite hit the mark but it’s blatantly obvious that’s not what it’s trying to do. Easily, the first sequence reels you in and you’re shown the capabilities of the creators to create good Horror but the story itself is prefaced by a pressing letter regarding the book’s intent.

The anatomy of characters can be a little blocky and slightly off-proportion at times but there are several beautifully, sequentially designed full pages where lots of different frames merge together to form an image that guides your eye smoothly through.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the overall concept and aesthetic of this book. The protagonist is a homeless man who imagines himself the modern day Philip Marlowe on the case to figure out what happened to his missing friend. Set in modern day Vancouver, the noir aesthetic puts a layer of despair (and honest criticism) over the shiny facade of the fancy new downtown urban development. The aspect that helf this book back was the figure/character art that was often so disproportional that I would get distracted from the story.

[Lu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant comic in all conceivable ways.

The story is crude and heartbreakingly violent, but it feels real and close.

The art is incredible and full of symbolism in the way the artist uses coloring and the way the panels are organised on the page. The reality that Arnold feels he lives in and the real world are in constant contrast and the art makes this really clear and each detail is significant.

The references to literature are really intelligent and elegant. And the connection to Don Quixote is one of the best I've read.

[Melissa Henrichs · Rating 4 out of 5]

7.5/10
Was not really feeling the story in the beginning, but once I got deeper into his trippy life I really got into it. I know for sure this lady friend was imaginary but I can't decide if they were actually eating people or if that was another delusion. Either way the art was gnarly.
I believe this is a stand alone, but if it isn't I wouldn't read the next Vol. I think it would ruin the experience for me.

[James Verreault · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is very interesting to have the perspective of an homeless person in a noir/detective story. I also really liked the idea of the city administration making the homeless of The Dregs overdose on drugs to then catch them, kill them and... serve them in a restaurant? It’s a never seen before scenario in crime drama comics. It is a dark and realistic look into the misery of the streets. The art is also very nice. I liked the way Eric Zawadski drew Vancouver. I highly recommend this book!

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ahhhh OK, so I'm biased because Vancouver is my home, and I loved seeing familiar places on the pages of this dark, mysterious graphic novel. This book explores gentrification and the extreme poverty and drug use of the downtown Eastside. Urban planners might enjoy the scenes of the development application process as well as the scenes at City Hall. Do we get a sequel to this?! I'd love to read more of this story...

[Raquel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting storyline that kept me engaged. The ending felt sort of cut-short. It's an endings where you know what happened but question if maybe you missed something "more". But, I still enjoyed the volume.

[Scott Waldie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wasn't in love with the ending to this, but otherwise what a cool book, the grimy art is the perfect fit to this creepy and gruesome meta-tale about cities and those who live within them.

Hallowen Read 2/13 for 2020

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

When you promise cannibalism, you gotta provide it.

Far to much time spent on the philosophical musings of a filthy dope fiend to be entertaining, and he's such an unreliable narrator that none of it may even be real. .

[Dan Summers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. A compelling mystery and an unreliable narrator. Wow. Blew me away.

[Logan Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting little mystery noir where the detective is a homeless man living in a gentrified Vancouver.

[Juan Banuelos-Arriaga · Rating 5 out of 5]

A work of fiction that provides an incredibly deep look into the lives of the homeless and the problem of gentrification. This is definitely one that must be read.

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy · Rating 3 out of 5]

They’re eating the homeless! A good dystopia story that twists our modern life and treatment of the homeless into a nice little tale.

[Grace Staley · Rating 4 out of 5]

short and powerful. 4 issue run magnifying homelessness, mental illness, and the way society views and manages people experiencing such struggles.

[Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

a quick read.
an interesting story told well.
it is a nice twist on a detective noir story.
art and colours work for this grimy stoey of corruption and awfulness.

[Dalton · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's always the goddamn windmill. That's what it's always been about. Cervantes cracked the code and we gentrified the combination.

[Travis Lupick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a review but is based on an interview I had with the author. It was originally published in the Georgia Straight newspaper.
A new drug called listo hits the streets of the Downtown Eastside. Shortly after, people begin to disappear. Around the same time, an upscale restaurant called La Mancha opens up and is quickly busy with wealthy patrons riding a wave of gentrification through the neighbourhood.
Then Manny goes missing. At first, our protagonist, a weathered old man named Arnold, doesn’t think much of it. He figures his friend will turn up soon enough. But when Manny doesn’t, Arnold quickly grows obsessed with tracking him down.
The vacant lot where Manny used to rest has been bulldozed, but the developer behind the project assures Arnold no one was displaced. “This building will grow the community,” he says.
Arnold becomes more determined and sets off on a search across the city. Meanwhile, addicts injecting listo continue to go missing.
Unbeknown to Arnold, their bodies are turning up in the kitchen at La Mancha. They’re butchered, given a little seasoning, and served to those patrons new to the Downtown Eastside who can afford to eat at the pricy restaurant.
In a telephone interview, the comic’s cocreator, Zac Thompson, acknowledges obvious parallels with the legend of Sweeney Todd, a barber in 1840s London who served his customers’ flesh in meat pies. But he said that Soylent Green, a 1973 film starring Charlton Heston served as an equal source of inspiration.
“Cannibalism has a pretty rich history in fiction in general,” Thompson told the Straight. "You have people like Oscar Wilde who were writing about this stuff a while back. And while it’s become sort of this clichéd horror thing, it’s also been used to criticize class structure. And so we wanted to revert back to that, as opposed to strictly for the gore aspects of it.
“We know that it’s dark and it’s really crazy, what exists on the pages of the comic,” he continued. “But we don’t think that it’s too far of a stretch from the daily life that people go through down there. Minus the cannibalism.”
The first issue of The Dregs goes on sale tomorrow (January 25). Thompson and his cowriter, Lonnie Nadler, will be at Golden Age Collectables at 852 Granville Street, signing copies of the comic, from 1 p.m. onward.
In the same interview, Nadler acknowledged that many readers might think listo is really fentanyl. But he noted the story was mostly written before the onset of Vancouver’s real-world overdose epidemic, which is largely driven by that synthetic opioid.
“Zak and I really wanted to build this world out and look at what a new drug introduced onto the scene might look like and how it might affect not only the people there but how it also might affect the protagonist’s ability to solve this crime and navigate his way through the city,” Nadler said. “And then it plays a pretty sinister role as the story continues.”
Thompson said that in researching the comic, the pair spoke with many residents who helped them get a feel for the neighbourhood and the changes that gentrification will likely bring.
“We spent a lot of time going to the Downtown Eastside and talking to the people who lived down there, trying to communicate their stories authentically on the page,” he said. “For us, this is really a big love letter to Vancouver.”
The Dregs is illustrated by Eric Zawadzki with colouring done by Dee Cunniffee. It’s is published by Black Mask Studio. In addition to Golden Age Collectables, The Dregs is available at Tazmanian Comics, Big Pete’s Comics, and for sale online via Amazon and Comixology.

[Jipi Perreault · Rating 4 out of 5]

A crushingly cruel mix of murder mystery and the reality of homelessness.