Likewise #2
By Ariel Schrag
Published by Slave Labor Graphics
Every once in a while -- maybe once or twice a year -- I'll find work by a previously unknown comics creator that makes me smack my head in frustration that I hadn't been aware of their stuff before, and immediately seek out all their previous work. So it is with Likewise #2 by Ariel Schrag.
Likewise, serialized in this title, is Schrag's fourth graphic novel, the previous ones covering her life during 9th, 10th and 11th grades. Likewise finds her a high school senior, driven to distraction by a failed attraction to another girl and the pedantic reality of her family life. Where the work shines is in Schrag's brutally blunt delivery of her thoughts and feelings, disjointed snippets of rage and sexual grief, longing and despair. Bringing to mind Alan Moore's Rorschach in its staccato rhythms, Schrag's inner monologue magnificently brings her pain and need to life:
"Always knew it, nothin' better than me n' Sally dissin' the homos then hoppin' into bed. Good point about gay sex: discourages animals mating parallel. Bad point: Sally just didn't really like doing it. Kinda blows the whole appeal plan. Make fun of gays and then promptly adjourn to seperate sleeping sites. Dread of the two bed setup. The memories have haunted me for quite some time."
Schrag's character is indeed haunted by her failed relationship with Sally, who apparently flirted with bisexuality but never committed to Ariel, for whom Sally was the entire world. An acquaintance dismissed Schrag's work to me as being the work of a "pseudointellectual bi-girl," but to disregard the individuality of Schrag's voice with such simplistic dismissal is a mistake (one perhaps based on exposure to Schrag's earlier and less mature cartooning?). Her painful journey through her senior year is depicted with graphic simplicity, but Schrag's cartooning has a strong sense of place and of character, and it serves to skillfully depict the sense of grief and lonliness she feels.
The relationship has left Ariel unable to focus on much else but her cherished memories and sexual and emotional longing, and she is clearly shattered inside. She can find no solace even in mining her memories for a moment of private pleasure:
"Why do my vaginal secretions have to smell so much like Sally's!"
So this is an honest work, one that sees its creator totally open herself up to lay bare her most private and hidden secrets. The issue concludes with real letters reacting to Likewise from Schrag's mother, sister, and even Sally herself, who comes off as distant and a bit annoyed:
"I am like, not really all that into all the crude references to my vagina. Um. Ick, Ariel." Sally does concede, though, that she appreciates the amazing honesty of Shrag's work.
So do I. While some may be put off by the bluntness of the material or the style in which it is presented, I can't wait to get out there and find more of it. Grade: 4.5/5