BodyWorld
by Dash Shaw

A combination of forces brings a book to your attention. Once in a while you find a clue. There are some mysteries too great for explanation. Something inside you knows and follows. Colors, lines, words, symbols, signs. BodyWorld. What is BodyWorld? So far, it’s no more than code, a code beamed into colorful cartoons you scroll through on your computer.

The scene opens on a train speeding through the countryside. A bald-headed man drops a handful of seeds out the window. He thrusts his hands in his trench coat and sits next to a profusely sweating man with lightning sideburns. The sweating man can’t be bothered. He goes to the bathroom and tries to do himself in. “This is it, Paulie-Boy. Finally. The End. Getting murky. Dim. Dark. Darker. Darker. Darkness! Wait–there at the end of the tunnel, an opening! Light! I’m coming to you!”

BodyWorld follows a suicidal investigator of psychotropic plants to Boney Burroughs, an experimental forest city in American circa 2060. In a few panels we “know” each character’s archetype. Dash Shaw uses caricature to exaggerate posture, movement, and physical features. He clips dialogue to visually balance word and image. The requirement of terse phrasing helps nuance each character’s speech. Shaw deftly portrays Pearl Peach with a few words, “I’m eighteen, Mom! Eight-Teen! An Adult.”

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