The People Inside by Ray Fawkes

I got an advanced copy of Canadian author Raw Fawkes' The People Inside from Oni Press! Lucky, lucky me! It's set to be released August 13th, 2014.

An un-punctuated opus to the inner monologue, celebrating the thoughts that pass when two people have reached a level of intimacy. The People Inside feels like a hundred tiny poems as you read it. It is a actually hundreds of tiny moments experienced by several unique people. It details their relationships with others and in a few cases, with themselves.  The story is peppered with alcohol abuse, domestic violence, celebrity, and BDSM on one hand. Marital bliss, the joy of being a parent and passion in the bedroom. The dark and light side of different kinds of relationships. Characters are brought together and torn apart. All of them suffering joy or despair in their own way.

I have always enjoyed a quiet story like this. Many of my favorites like The Death Ray of Daniel Clowes, strolls along and then finally shocks you with soft, sparse lines to describe a major event. Panels of this story are replaced bit by bit in the end with darkness as each character passes like the leaves of a tree. Each living and thriving for a short time before they wither. A beautifully, haunting story which reminds me of my own mortality and just how small we all really are.