John, Dear

by Laura Lannes

A woman dominated in a bad relationship and reeling from the loss of her mother begins to develop strange sores all over her body, sores she hadn't even noticed until pointed out to her by John. A dark and horrific look at a bad relationship, told with exquisite art.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

48 pages, Paperback

First published November 20, 2018

Reviews

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

When life turns into a horrible waking nightmare. A woman loses her mother and soon after finds herself in a romantic relationship with a man named John. Starts off great but after a while the relationship turns kinda bad, kinda toxic. Probably triggered by that and her mother's death (tons of stress and anxiety), the woman develops a weird disease where holes appear all over her body. At one terrible point white worms come out from those holes while she takes a hot bath.

She wakes up in the middle of the night attempting to speak to her mother (who is dead), her relationship with John is nearly nonexistent (they're still together but neither of them is getting anything positive from staying in the relationship), holes spread all over her body to the point where she's basically disappearing, she tries to get better but everything is just worse. Great illustrations, really like how it started off, but ends kind of abruptly. Definitely not an optimistic ending.

[J.T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

My only gripe with this comic is the cover. It's not a bad looking cover, but it doesn't do any justice to what's inside. The illustrations throughout perfectly convey a feeling of quiet terror and destruction from an abusive relationship. Reading this book is like watching a horror movie. You'll squint to make out shapes in the dark, both wanting and not wanting to see what's there.

[amelie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really chilling representation of an abusive relationship. I really loved the metaphor of this and the dark artwork, so cool!

[n · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning art. A perfect horror story, where the disappearing body lets us ingest the terror of the relationship in these pages.

[André Habet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Laura Lannes work. Seriously. She is one of the best in comics right now, and what I love about her work is that she's able to create narratives that get at the core of violence and desire without the compulsion to explain any of what's occurring beyond the experience of the thing. Bonus for some of the most affecting lettering I've seen in a comic. The letters convey someone tethering on a brink over an extended period, and I felt the entire time as though the letters, the forms, and I would all dissolve into one mass. You should read anything by Lannes you can get your hands on.

[Adam Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Using very basic language, and deceptively simple but beautiful art, Lannes's story of a woman who loses herself in love is exquisitely panelled. The alternating black or white pages also added to how aware Lannes is of how to design this story. While the pacing of this particular story wasn't the kind I usually enjoy, I will still absolutely pick up any book I see with Lannes's name on it. I can't wait to see what she does next.

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fucked and I loved it.

[StrictlySequential · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Retrofit 47"

It is so short and on such small pages but the message is laid on thick within them while being uncomfortably creepy and shockingly sad.

[Graeme · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unsettling story of abuse with fitting illustrations, told through the disintegration of the main character.

[Gabriel Infierno · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't recommend this book for anyone with trypophobia, strongly.
At the first read I miss the point giving it a second chance I really like and the art is amazing.

[Robert Boyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a body horror story. A woman in a relationship with a man named John loses her mom then comes down with a mysterious disease that starts putting holes into her face. At first, they are too small to be seen and it's John who notices them. Over the course of the comic, the condition grows worse and holes start to cover her whole body. Oddly enough, there is no attempt by the woman to seek medical treatment. At first, John is sympathetic and tries to be helpful, but as the disease progresses, he pulls away.

Laura Lannes is an illustrator like the Hoeys but with a much more minimal, hand-made style. The comic is also minimalist--there are no visible panel lines and no word balloons. The text is typeset in an all caps, sans serif font. Even the way she draws the holes in a minimal way--they look like leopard spots.

This is is a very short comic so the story doesn't have much space to get too complex. But it resembles Charles Burns' Black Hole in one important way--a very visible disease acts as a metaphor for something else, in this case the arc of the woman's psyche vis-a-vis her relationship with John.

[Jesús · Rating 4 out of 5]

John, Dear is a nightmarish and harrowing fable of a woman’s self-effacement and what it means for her to be with an emotionally abusive partner. This short book is so emotionally volatile and resonant that it feels like it might be too soon for me to voice my thoughts about it. It’s still actively rolling around in my head and will be for some time.

And maybe that’s the point: it’s an unsettling book that, if it has done its job, recreates the experience of emotional abuse insofar as feelings never feel like one’s own (what is this strange illness?) and feelings are never allowed to coalesce into solid things (am I crazy?). If ghosts really are the result of unresolved trauma, then this woman lives a phantom-like existence. She is disallowed from finding emotional resolution and so must live in a ghostly limbo, receding ever further into a horrifying, dark nothingness.

[Rob McMonigal · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the metaphor of wasting away in an abusive relationship, but many of the pages are too dark to appreciate the art fully, and there's just not enough actual illustration for me to appreciate it fully as a comic. I appreciate the ambitious nature of the book, but I don't think it works as a graphic story. But I think I'm in the minority here, so check it out for yourself and draw your own conclusion.

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lannes has crafted a powerful graphic tale of self hatred and self destruction within the confines of an abusive relationship. Haunting and horrifying.

This was a Kickstarter pledge from Retrofit and in my opinion they continue to be one of the best indie comics publishers.

[lesley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not prepared for the bleakness of this comic, but it is a very visceral depiction of great psychological/physical suffering. When I buy comics to support artists, I like to pass on the physical book so others can read it, but this one might be too nihilistic to share

[Aoife · Rating 3 out of 5]

maybe I didn't look too closely though

[Cadu França · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bomzão

[glasscreature · Rating 4 out of 5]

spooky as FUCK, very yellow wallpaper esque

[Kathryn Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was definitely not expecting to be so scared by 25 pages of beautiful graphic novel. Surreal body horror about bad relationships and losing yourself

[Khanh · Rating 4 out of 5]

my course instructor handed us this among a pile of example works, specifically for zine-making and bookbinding. i think in that regard it's pretty simplistic. the story itself is something else.

[Gillian Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eerie, terrifying, and completely visceral. Laura Lannes is massively talented.

[Day ☾]

This made me feel extremely uneasy.