BodyWorld – Dash Shaw
I only knew just a little bit about BodyWorld before Comic-Con—mostly that it was a long book that opened vertically, which made reading the book physically awkward. That, and the artwork inside was a mixture of drawings, paintings, montages and things you wouldn’t find in a typical comic book. Pantheon Books sent me a copy, and it’s one of those books that, after reading it, I wasn’t entirely sure if I liked or not.
Bodyworld is a really odd story, told in a really odd fashion. Professor Paulie Panther is one of the first characters you meet, and right away you can tell something’s wrong with him. He claims to be a botanist, visiting the small town of Boney Borough to work with the school on identifying an unknown plant that has cropped up there. Pretty soon, though, the nature of his work becomes apparent: he’s researching an “encyclopedia of the hallucinogenic effects of North American plantlife.” That is, he travels around, looks for undiscovered or untested plant life, and smokes it.
There are several other major characters, including the sports-star high schooler Billy-Bob Borg and his girlfriend Pearl Peach, and one of the teachers, Jem Jewel; eventually all of their paths cross in surprising ways, particularly when the effects of the mystery plants kick in. Bodyworld isn’t really a pleasant book to read—none of the characters are what you’d call good, upstanding folk. However, the way that Shaw reveals the truth about the plants and how he portrays the drug-addled perceptions of the characters is pretty hallucinogenic itself.
If you’re into experimental comics, ways of pushing the boundaries of the medium, BodyWorld might be right up your alley. However, don’t say I didn’t warn you—this is not a book that gives you a warm, happy feeling when you finish.
