Ferris’ remarkable debut graphic novel is a particular treat for Chicagoans because her young heroine/monster walks the streets of Uptown and visits her favorite pieces in the Art Institute, illustrating familiar sites in a river of Bic ink. The figures on her streets are at once grotesque and drawn with love, with all the lewd exaggeration of R. Crumb and the endearing crosshatches of Maurice Sendak. Each page is a horror vacui of lines, breathtaking in scope, especially considering the nearly-400 page book was drawn as Ferris recovered from paralysis due to West Nile Virus.
“My Favorite Thing Is Monsters,” Emil Ferris, Fantagraphics
