Drawn & Quarterly is a publisher who’s always done gay-inclusive anthologies, right from the Drawn & Quarterly magazine which, launching in 1990, featured Maurice Vellekoop‘s art and introduced me to his work when I was still closeted–I never recovered. Vellekoop’s work even graced the very funny and sexy cover of the Best Of published in 1993. But I digress again.
The latest and fifth issue of their current anthology, Drawn & Quarterly Showcase, includes Inland, a 35-page story by Anneli Furmark, a Swedish artist I didn’t know. David and Jakob are two thirty-something lovers spending a few days in David’s small town, to meet his parents who don’t know about their son being gay. The story is composed of small scenes told in two panels per page, giving it a slow and realistic rythm. Nothing special happens here, only two men trying to make sense of each other’s lives. David is still in the closet and hopes that meeting Jakob, whom he introduces as a friend, will help his parents understand their real relationship when he tells them the truth (that definitely struck a chord with me), while Jakob wrestles with having to behave in an untruthful way.
Furmark’s art is the kind which doesn’t look stylish or impressive, but in fact draws the reader in the story, with her knack for drawing real people and real settings, and her subdued colors complementing her quiet depiction of inner turmoil.
Inland is not a story for readers who are looking for bigger than life characters and plots, but rather for those who can enjoy a
well-crafted and thoughtful story. Drawn & Quarterly Showcase #5 can be found at Amazon
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