New Realities: The Comics of Dash Shaw

by Greg Hunter, Dash Shaw (Artist)

Dash Shaw is one of the most restless cartoonists of recent decades, constantly evolving in how he approaches the comics page. In the years since his breakthrough graphic novel Bottomless Belly Button, he has continued to create acclaimed, idiosyncratic comics, varying his uses of line and color as well as shifting from domestic realism to sci-fi farce to historical fiction. But some concerns in Shaw’s work remain constant. His characters live within their own personal realities, often failing to connect or even communicate. Comics as different as the dystopian spectacle BodyWorld and the geek-culture comedy Cosplayers become sites of clashes between incompatible mindsets―with Shaw adapting his cartooning to capture new varieties of confusion, alienation, and more. In New Realities, critic Greg Hunter (The Comics Journal) follows the through-line across this adventurous body of work.

112 pages, Paperback

Published April 25, 2023

Reviews

[Ayelet Abraham · Rating 1 out of 5]

Im disappointed by this book. It mainly reveals the plot of show’s books instead of going into deeper discussion about the themes and motives in show’s work.