I Want You
... you can see the cartoonist's sensibilities — that penchant for slamming the manic and mundane into each other, to see what happens — coalescing into an aesthetic that belongs to her and her alone ... She started producing the I Want You minicomics back in 2009, when she was in her twenties, which might explain their disjointed quality. They're by turns funny, filthy, horny, gorgeous, grotesque and violent (the best of them are all of these things at once). She's still trying out forms and approaches, as you'd expect — smudgy pencils here, laser-precise inks there ... Viewers of Bojack or Tuca & Bertie unfamiliar with Hanawalt's previous books might be unprepared for just how earthy her work can get ... a clear-eyed, open-hearted and honest addition to the collected work of a young artist who, it becomes clear, has always divided her attention between the abstruse and the immediate, the fantastic and the all-too-feasible. Hanawalt's world is one that's as resolutely real as our flawed and hilarious bodies — yet that's always a bit feathery at the edges.
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Hanawalt is a maximalist. Her protagonists—many of whom have animal heads but human bodies—consist of intricate patterns of fur and clothing, offset by comparatively sparse but equally intricate shapes that define their surroundings. Her crosshatching is often meticulous, giving realistic depth and texture to the characters' exposed heads and limbs and so intensifying the surreal effect. When Hanawalt leaves the interior of shapes unshaded, the pages resemble absurdist coloring books inappropriate for humans of any age ... Hanawalt's free-roaming styles are well-suited to her collection ... Hanawalt's surreal bodies are also horror-tinged, often vomiting inexplicable clumps of noodles or baby chicks. The most disturbingly powerful sequence is She-Mouse's visit to a surreal abortion clinic ... Wanting and contradiction abound[.]
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... highlights the development of [Hanawalt's] singular worldview and absurd sense of humor that eventually led to her becoming widely acclaimed ... A brilliant collection from an audacious and boldly inventive cartoonist with a distinct and necessary perspective.
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