Do you know who you are? Do you like who you are?
These are the kinds of questions that the creators behind How Loathsome and the characters who populate it ask. The answers aren't clear, and chances are, they never will be. This book is about characters who have cast off the shackles of puritan society and delved into a world of androgynous sexuality in order to find purpose or pleasure, bliss or belonging. But none of these characters seems particularly happy. The storytelling in this series has been as vague and mysterious as the various characters' sexuality, but with this final issue, I think Crane and Naifeh are saying that no one is truly content, that we're all lost, trying in vain to find our way.
Catherine and her friends head down to the Dragshak to support a friend -- Chloe, a fellow transsexual who goes by the stage name Vanilla Cream -- as she prepares to perform again for the first time in years. The show isn't about the crowd, exhibitionism or adulation for Chloe. It's about a short time when she just feels comfortable, real and herself. Meanwhile, the girlish boy who's been playing with Nick spies a delicious vision in the crowd at the club and gets more than he bargained for when hunting his sexual prey.
The skil with which Naifeh renders these alluring, sexually ambiguous characters is stunning. Catherine, Alex, Chloe and the "New Kid" all exude sexuality, and they're visually entrancing. Naifeh brings depth to the black-and-white artwork with the grey tones and effective, Mignola-esque shadows. The pirate rag queen is a striking and entertaining visual in this book, and it makes for a lighter element in a dark, sad script. I also loved the incorporation of photographs into the artwork on the first page as well as the cover.
It's no coincidence that the most conventional of the characters is also the biggest asshole of the group. Nick is a "regular" guy in an unusual underworld, and he doesn't fit in. He's accepted, though, which says more about the state of mind and accepting nature of those who populate that underworld.
What are the themes of this issue? Of How Loathsome as a whole? To be honest, I don't know; I've mentioned a few, but they're really just thoughts that this unusual but powerful series has sparked in my mind. Ultimately, it's an introduction to people you haven't met but know, to alien ideas that lurk within each one of us.
