Bad Gateway


By Simon Hanselmann (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-68396-207-6 (HB)

Simon Hanselmann is a well-travelled cartoonist of Tasmanian origin who has, since 2009, been producing one of the best cartoon strips of all time.

Originally located on his girlmountain.tumblr site, later episodes of this engagingly deceptive, inappropriately pigeon-holed “stoner comedy” Megg & Mogg have popped up in places as varied as Kus, Smoke Signal, Gangbang Bong and assorted minicomics, but can now all be found in a sturdy, full colour archival compilations such as this latest titanic (313 x 212mm) which carries our scurrilous cast to a final crisis point…

Hanselmann’s signature characters were loosely based on childhood memories of British children’s books Meg & Mog (created by Helen Nicoll & Jan Pienkowski and begun in 1972), but warped and filtered through a druggy haze and damaged childhoods. Depression-afflicted teen druggie witch Megg lives with her mean-spirited feline familiar Mogg, but their existence also impacts on sensitive, insecure, affection-starved Owl and violently self-destructive Werewolf Jones…

When not confronting or testing each other or hanging with the wrong crowd, they spent most of their time in a haze of self-inflicted ennui or on dope-fuelled junk-food binges in the apartment or in front of the TV. They probably don’t like each or themselves much but dwell in a fug of dangerous co-dependency. Their strange yet oddly compulsive adventures have enthralled a generation of readers: a most improper tribute to a life lived more wryly through chemistry and sarcasm. After a stellar decade of awards and critical acclaim, the ongoing internationally successful series stumbles to a critical point and psychological crux in this latest luxury hardback (and digital) release…

And just in case you were wondering…

This book is packed with drug references, violent sexual imagery and outrageous situations intended to make adults laugh and think.

If the copy above hasn’t clued you in, please be warned that this book uses potentially disturbing images of abuse, sexual intimacy, excess and language commonly used in the privacy of the bedroom, drunken street brawls – and all school playgrounds whenever supervising adults aren’t present – to make its artistic and narrative points.

If the mere thought of all that appals and offends you, read no further and don’t buy it. The rest of us will just have to enjoy some truly astounding cartoon experiences without you.

Lethargically anarchic and cruelly hilarious, the escapades reopen after ‘Previously in Megg, Mogg & Owl’ with 28 Days Later’ as the pharmacologically paralysed and insecure Megg reluctantly abandons malicious, experience-craving Mogg to debase herself even further. It’s time for her Welfare Benefits review and under the new administration she’s going to have to excel if she wants to keep getting money to maintain her current lifestyle.

Hyper-anxious, she also delivers an ultimatum: come what may, Mogg is going to have to get a job…

In the meantime, part-time dealer and full-time patsy Werewolf meets up with a couple of regulars and gets well and truly shafted… again…

With the latest crisis averted for now and all wounds healing, the junkies start looking for stuff to sell but when Megg tries to pawn her ‘Rollerblades’ the unwelcome memories take her down roads she’d rather not acknowledge let alone recognise…

‘Banned’ follows Megg into therapy, but as her extended circle of acquaintances share their own troubles, Mogg finds new ways to amuse himself…

‘The Birdcage’ then finds the friends staging a bizarre intervention for Werewolf, after which Megg makes a major decision in ‘Vibrate’ when her mother sends a message begging for help, precipitating a cross-country jaunt, a re-visitation of past events and a confrontation that is the emotional equivalent of ‘Throwing Rocks at Power-lines’, before some kind of stability is restored through a time-dishonoured ‘Ritual’…

Despite surface similarity to some no-harm, no-foul adult situation comedies – and believe me there are outrageous laughs by the bucketful – what predominates here is a strong, frequently overwhelming narrative progression of painful yet beguiling stories which navigate with easy confidence the tightrope between sordid and surreal, hilarity and horror, survival and sinking away.

Dark, affecting and unforgettable, this is a book no lover of truly mature fiction should ignore.
Bad Gateway © 2019 Simon Hanselmann. This edition © 2019 Fantagraphics Books, Inc. All rights reserved.