Graphic Novel Review: My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down

My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down

David Heatley

Jonathan Cape

I wish people would stop sending me autobiographical comics to review. It’s not that I don’t appreciate them. I do. Its not that I don’t read them. I really do. It’s just that the type of person who sees fit to do such a thing is typically going to write a head frying work of staggering oddness. Why can’t they be more straight forward like super hero comics? Why don’t you send me super hero comics? Call me old fashioned but isn’t the simple story of man with a magic ring being made a space cop by an army of blue midgets from the planet Oa ,much easier to deal with than the day to day life of some poor schlob and his hang ups?

Speaking of which, young David Heatley has some ......intriuging, things to say in My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down. The feel of the art makes it seem almost like a modern day Peanuts but I can assure you, Charlie Brown and Snoopy Never got mixed up in anything like this. He tells his life story, but does it in part by giving an account of every sexual experience he has ever had. EVERY SINGLE ONE. IN GRAPHIC DETAIL. Quite why he felt the need to do this I can not comprehend, but it’s strangely compelling, and there is an almost child like innocence to it. Possibly because, you know, its cartoon figures in explicit sexual situations. A second section gives an account of every black person he has ever met. He has some interesting things to say about race relations, and this section is handily interspersed with his notes on Hip Hop culture giving it the feel of a visual De La Soul album.

The rest of the book deals with his relationship with his parents. Race, sex, and his parents? I would say it sounds like someone in need of therapy. But of course there are whole sections devoted to his therapy. I have no idea who the target audience of this book is supposed to be. I liked it. Many people I showed it to thought it was either disgusting or racist. Heatley is clearly a complex individual and the ups and downs of his life are funny, disturbing, thought provoking, sad, and insightful

The ideal gift for the pervert or gangsta rapper in your life.