You may already recognise Shuning Ji’s name from the Catalyst comics anthology published by SelfMadeHero a couple of years back. That book was the result of their Graphic Anthology Programme designed to mentor and champion emerging creators of colour; an initiative that included such names as Broken Frontier Six to Watch artists Dominique Duong and Jason Chuang. With its short story format it was a very effective introductory platform to the creators involved. My Mum is a Wolf is also an excellent example of that. A 40-ish page short comic exploring the sometimes toxic relationships that can form between mother and daughter. The specific context here is one of exploring Chinese societal tradition but the theme is, ultimately, universal.
My Mum is a Wolf is soaked in the kind of emotional immediacy that only autobio work can provide. In its opening three pages the scene is strikingly set for what is to follow. It’s a sequence that sees a manipulative mother disregarding her daughter’s privacy, manipulating her feelings, and horribly insulting her in rapid succession, as she undermines her confidence before an interview. While these moments of conflict are disturbing enough in their abusiveness we then see how they haunt the daughter in the period thereafter. The constant refrain that she is ugly and fat following her through both waking day and into her nightmares.
What so impresses about My Mum is a Wolf is not simply the resonant weight of what it depicts in terms of damaged mother-daughter dynamics. It’s the manner in which Ji embellishes the turmoil at the heart of the story through intense colour choices, constant changes in panel layout styles and page compositions to mirror the urgency of her on-page version’s feelings and reactions, and the application of vulpine visual metaphor that sees her mother’s growing dark moods manifesting themselves as lycanthropic physical changes. A wolf-like metamorphosis that will make a generational leap in the comic’s key moment…
We observe as the two women’s paths diverge with daughter escaping to a new life in the UK and later as they reacquaint themselves after a few years; the same patterns of toxicity quickly reestablishing themselves. It builds up to a powerful conclusion but one that is not devoid of hope or the possibility of change. This is a highly impressive piece of visual storytelling. Just look at how much is communicated in the nightmare scene above for example (middle image) or, in contrast, how a more sedate rhythm of life comes to the fore in the UK pages (image directly above) without need for additional commentary or explanation. There are a couple of slightly awkward transitions between sequences that are, perhaps, a little more forced. But that aside My Mum is a Wolf is the kind of confident comics work that alert publishers will want to check out. Keep Shuning Ji’s name on your radar, all. It’s certainly on mine.
Shuning Ji (W/A) • Self-published, £15.99
Review by Andy Oliver
