THOUGHT BUBBLE MONTH 2024! The Weird and Wonderful Surviveries of Squid Horse is a collection of comic strips that defies easy categorisation. It’s autobio but with sidesteps into fantasy interwoven into the fabric of its narrative. It explores intersectional themes pertaining to the East and Southeast Asian diaspora, transness, the pandemic and mental health. Even its originator is multi-faceted being the Squid Horse of the title, the Mollusc Dimension of the creator credit, and various other projected characters throughout its pages.
Comprising around 37 discrete yet interconnected comic strips The Weird and Wonderful Surviveries of Squid Horse is a synthesis of communicated lived experience with what one would help would be cathartic on-page exploration of and reflection on events. Begun during lockdown, the Mollusc Dimension’s strips here take reality as a springboard and then inject it with visual metaphor, symbolic oddities and borderline surrealism.
Facets of his personality are embodied in the characters Joonkid (the contemporary voice), Squid (anxiety), Horse (depression), Coolhead Mollusc (creativity) and a variety of chronologically placed Young Squids. Their activities and interactions are sometimes universal (the loneliness of lockdown) and sometimes specific (his own focussed struggles with mental health issues and workaholism). Further to this Survivories of Squid Horse doesn’t limit itself to a linear narrative, with strips jumping backwards and forwards through his personal timeline.
Key comics deal with subjects like childhood experiences with racism and the rise in bigotry towards Asian people during the pandemic, through to the importance of creativity as a stabilising force, transitioning, bereavement, and the complexities of the child-parent relationship. What’s so notable here is the way in which the Mollusc Dimension combines important and serious subject matter with an amiably witty narration style. It ensures greater empathy from the audience, and the frequent forays into bizarrely imaginative imagery back this up.
The Mollusc Dimension’s art style may not be overly complex but strong comics don’t necessarily need overly elaborate visuals, and the occasional rawness actually serves the subject matter and re-enforces the personal qualities of the work. Those looking for autobiographical material with an added flourish at Thought Bubble this year should certainly check out this thoughtful and thought-provoking piece of super-enhanced slice-of-life.
The Mollusc Dimension (W/A) Self-published
Review by Andy Oliver
The Mollusc Dimension will be at Table D12a in the DSTLRY Hall at Thought Bubble.
Thought Bubble 2024 runs from November 11th-17th with the convention weekend taking place on the 16th-17th. More details on the Thought Bubble site here.
Read all our Thought Bubble 2024 coverage so far in one place here.
Art by Rocío Arreola Mendoza
