FOODBOY
Fantagraphics
Books, 2004
Carol Swain
by Jason Sage Gelt
Carol Swain's Wales is a dark, lonely and dangerous place, a stark world of blank slopes, vanishing lakes, impenetrable forests and vast fields of broken rock. Even her protagonists, Garth and Ross, are rendered vague and expressionless; whether they're hungry, angry or afraid, they react in with the same pained expressions.
But the understatement in Foodboy's art is mirrored by the story's simple structure: Garth and Ross, friends since boyhood, take wildly different paths after a visiting Evangelist who aims to convert the locals with the tale of Sodom and Gomorrah. In one chilling scene, Ross tells the preacher, "We've listened to what you believe, now would you be courteous…enough to listen to what I believe?" As the preacher and the crowd wait expectantly, Ross bows his head and says nothing for two full, tense pages.
The episode seems to trigger in Ross a sense of alienation, and he retreats into the woods to live an increasingly feral existence. Garth brings Ross food, earning him the nickname of the book's title, and remains the only conjunction between Ross and his old life. But as his friend degenerates -- to the point where he barely speaks and his teeth have rotted into sharp spikes -- their bond is severely tested.
What results is a sad and strange meditation on friendship, loss, hope and faith. Foodboy depicts a world in decay, where people and nature exist in precarious relation to one another, where the line between civilized and savage is ultimately effaced. It is a desperate journey, but one well worth the taking.