well
Writer/Artist: Jon Allen
Publisher: Top rack
Publication date: April 2025
In the past decade Jon Allen Always building their own little universe slowly but surely to the fictional town of Piney Bluff, Ohio: a strange corner of the post-industrial rust belt where adorable anthropomorphic animals drink, take drugs, go in and out of desire and love, often in trouble. Graphic novels that are becoming increasingly ambitious For sale in Ohio,,,,, The Lonely Eraand Julian in Purgatory This strange but immediately recognizable environment has taken a very clear form. Allen’s crisp black and white and grey paintings hover at the turning point of the millennium on the details of American life: abandoned factories and frustrating restaurant chains dominate the landscape, while the character’s houses are scattered with a large number of consumer goods that seem to be in a gradual pain in the work that is slowly getting painful, which seems to be in a bad situation, which seems to be in a bad situation, which seems to be spreading worse and worse, which makes it even worse to make people more and more.
exist wellAllen’s latest indie graphic novel (and by far his most headlined 720 gorgeous, quick-read square pages), seems likely to be changing the ocean. Veronika is a funny young woman with black bobs and pointed ears, who finally becomes the center stage after all the slack bluff stories of Allen. We initially found her on Dead Dog, a trash diving bar where she doesn’t have a good boyfriend Matt and his hard-earned friends celebrating the upcoming Pan-Ohio Tour of Matt Metal Band Carnosphere (spoiler alert: You should definitely not date a musician).
Veronika is obviously out of place. At the 24-year-old mature age, she has been troubled by self-doubt and regret: Did she make a mistake by dropping out? With parents and her younger brother Camden (closed teen protagonist The Lonely Era)? Yes, yes, in her withered self-assessment. But maybe things are looking for Veronika. When Matt wasn’t on the show (and competed), Veronika stayed in his “large small apartment” and began a new job as a database technician at an ever-growing local company that made “herbal supplements” (or energy drinks?). Compared to drunken, drug addicts and suppressors forming her circle of friends, Veronika seems to be moving upwards. Will she reach the escape speed and break the cycle?
With its punk resonance, queer themes and open storytelling, Allen’s work is clearly ongoing by Jaime Hernandez Crazy The story (and anyone who digs out Hernandez’s funnel story should be attributed to checking out Piney Bluff), and in Veronika’s opinion, Allen seems to have found his Maggie, a character that can appear in a variety of environments and situations, always looking fresh and relevant. Veronika used to be a supportive sister The Lonely Era And friends who support them Julian in Purgatory And it always seems to be collected and confident, but Allen is in trouble here and readers realize the real contradiction of this “cool girl”. although well Continuing to show Allen’s humorous ears for interesting and natural conversations, he also explores Veronika’s doubts and fears directly through backup, almost poetic first-person narrative and extended dream sequences, and the reader is completely drawn to her point of view. On many pages of the book, Veronika is clearly the most comprehensive and attractive protagonist of Allen.
In the sprawling office of the company she works for, Unnamed, Veronika settles in her anonymous cubicle, and as she happily encodes, the hours seem to fly, building a meticulously designed purely abstract structure in a ruthless infinite space for a weightless brick for an invisible city. “Her work was initially driven by coffee and tea, and ultimately by the company’s flagship product, a miraculous elixir of immortality, with quirky company founders Jake and Susan Sopport improving “concentration, concentration, emotion, emotion, creativity, creativity, memory, and clarity of thought.”
Back at Matt’s crusty digging, Veronika struggles to clean up dirty dishes and empty beer cans, starting to imagine “building a life together” with him, but when another woman searches for Matt at the door, Veronika begins to realize that things in the real world may not merge in reality with digital attitudes. Not willing to deny it: “Come on, you know I’m a rock star. I have to maintain a certain lifestyle.”
Veronika turned to her new pair of colleagues to enjoy the comfort of comfort, going to a Friday night with the craze, open receptionist Persephone and ambitious and anxious Jake. When possible lady Jake tries to ask about the new Veronika’s attempts in a date crash and burns, she and Persephone combine too many drinks together alone. Things quickly get a little complicated in the brave extension order, which cleverly explores the sweet embarrassment of confusing attraction and desire. Allen has a natural patience, even a massive narrative style that allows his scenes to play over dozens of pages, a way that clearly evokes Jordan Crane’s work Keep two. Here, the technology pays dividends when readers experience the tension and budding connection between Veronika and Persephone (only this chapter is a graphic novella in its own right) and is a distinct highlight of the book.
Meanwhile, strange events occur in the bland maze corridors of their workplace, Veronika, Persephone and Dave quickly find themselves trapped in a mysterious mystery of thought and genre bent to dominate the latter half well. It can be said that things are not as they seem, and Veronika’s new job may not be an easy way to escape the downturn in Rust Belt America’s life.
This isn’t the first time Allen plays with genre elements in his ongoing narrative (a naughty army of black demons invades a family gathering Ohio for sale, and Julian in Purgatorythe burning and rooted portrait of opioid addiction, flirting is the idea of becoming an outside crime thriller) well Integrate genre elements in new ways. Although Allen deals with the challenge of using strong change gears (and often seems interesting), if I say I haven’t missed a more Quotidian conflict, I’ll lie because I followed Veronika and Company in their increasingly crazy adventures that would drive the first half of this graphic novel. Over the years, Allen perfected his attitude to life in Piney Bluff, his completely honest vision of life, that something was wrong with adjusting the formula. But even if the action becomes intense and the situation becomes more eccentric, Alan never loses the character’s quirks, while the lively dialogue and sensitive narrative continue to build portraits of Veroneka and her friends, which is very real to life.
Like any good hero’s journey, Veronika emerges from her misery transformation, seemingly ready to resolve the next chapter of her life. But there is nothing simple in the surprisingly primitive and realistic universe that Allen has built over the years, and the happy ending is not a given one. But regardless of Veronika’s next step is another adorable, related, and often fucked resident of Piney Bluff, I’m sure Allen will be ready to document what will happen next in this very familiar corner of America, and I’ll definitely be there. I recommend visiting Piney Bluff and you won’t be disappointed.
The well is now opened through the top shelf
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