The End of the Fucking World – Graphic Novel Review
Review of The End of the Fucking World by Charles Forsman
I have now read two graphic novels by Charles Forsman and I think I can speak to his style. His drawings are very simple outline sketches, just a notch above stick figures. His characters are described by their worst traits and developed as caricatures of negative qualities. Readers should definitely not strive to be like any of his “protagonists.”
I see a lot of bad reviews for books, not just Forsman’s, that are full of unlikeable characters. I don’t think unlikeable characters is a reason in and of itself to hate a book. There are many stories that are valuable or entertaining told with characters who are largely deplorable. Watch Breaking Bad and tell me by the end that you didn’t hate almost everyone on screen. Most people alive in the real world suck. That’s just the way it is. We all suck from time to time too. Those stories deserve to be told as well.
The End of the Fucking World (TEotFW) is about a budding young sociopath, James, and the girl, Alyssa, that loves him. The story is told through alternating perspectives but Forsman’s simplistic drawing style made this quite confusing to me at first. Perhaps this is one that could use a second read to fully appreciate.
Both characters look very similar. They are almost genderless in their appearance and don’t have many defining features to distinguish them. It took me a good few pages to figure out that the voices were shifting within the narrative. That’s a pretty hefty flaw if you ask me. Especially in graphic novel format, characters should be distinguishable. Perhaps this was intentional, but if not, throw a different hairstyle into the mix to help a reader out.
However, the meat of the story is engaging and intriguing. The End of the Fucking World amps up teenage angst to new heights. Honestly, it’s not even that far removed from the violent world that teens are living in right now anyway. We just like to think that it is. The truth is that children are acutely aware of violence, murder, shootings, and every other evil out there. It’s brought right to their schools and calling the police relieves none of the fear, perhaps even enhances it.
When Alyssa meets James he seems like an average moody teenager. She quickly falls for him and is determined to love him even after he shows very scary violent tendencies. He’s exhibiting all of the standard traits of a person who will surely become a serial killer. He may even decide to kill Alyssa at some point. Instead of fleeing, she’s along for the ride. Will she make him better or will he make her worse?
There is no excess to Forsman’s writing. It’s dry and to the point but the point is valid. I’ve enjoyed reading his works and I will continue to do so. If for no other reason that to see what controversy he can stir up with his dark plots. However, I may steer clear of any further Netflix adaptations. It’s difficult to stretch out a bone bare comic book into an entire mini-series. Plus, these adaptations are getting worse and worse reviews as they come out.
I read The End of the Fucking World in under an hour. They turned it into a series. Same with I am Not Okay With This. I watched the former when it came out and wasn’t aware it was based on a book. I enjoyed it enough but now I can see how much liberty they took with it. They really had to add a ton to make this story more than a 40 minute single episode.
I do not think that everything needs to be covered, remade, reinterpreted, etc. Sometimes a short graphic novel is all a story needs. And that’s okay! If you like dark and angsty stories I would check this one out. Just try to straighten out the narrative faster than I did.
4/5 new best friends 👫👫👫👫
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Surprisingly, given the title, this book isn’t on my list of Books about the Apocalypse.