Bottomless Belly Button
by Dash Shaw
Lowdown: Didn’t like it. At all. Slightly surreal, technically excellent, but way too graphic for me.
This story of a family coming to grips with the dissolution of their parents’ 40-year marriage was way too explicit for me to enjoy completely. There’s a lot of sex and nudity and profanity which I don’t like or enjoy.
At its core, this is just another story of a slightly dysfunctional family, but it doesn’t bring very little that is new or interesting to the table. It’s a story that’s been told a million times before.
I did find it interesting that Shaw drew the youngest son, Peter, as a frog with Mickey-Mouse gloves. “I’m the youngest child cliché,” he says. “I don’t belong. My whole family looks at me like I’m a dumb, weird frog.” We get one panel where we see the real Peter. Shaw also draws the older brother, Dennis, frequently dressed in a full sports uniform (but I don’t know what sport). Interesting choices that add to the strangeness and surreal-ness of the story.
—
Buy from Amazon (with kickback
