In m previous life as a children's book blogger, reviewing any books starring Meg, Mog and Owl would normally be a rather gentle affair, describing the genius of Helen Nicols and Jan Pienkowski and the whacky exploits of a witch, her cat and their flappy feathered buddy.
Now imagine if an insane twisted genius decided that Megg, Mogg and Owl (note the double-Gs on those names, they're important) were in fact not the whimsical trio out for fun and adventures, but were three housemates living a warped drug-fuelled pseudo-existence filled with dark humour, the struggle to maintain a high at all times, and some truly stomach-churning sexual shenanigans that you definitely would not find in the aforementioned children's book series. Be warned, this review truly isn't for the kidlit crew or their tinies!
I bought Simon Hanselmann's "Megahex" some time ago and it's a comic that drives my wife absolutely mad, mostly because I read it at bedtime and sat there guiltily chuckling (and making the bed shake). I say guiltily because you'll spend a lot of the time asking yourself "Should I REALLY be lauhing at this?" Soon, chuckling gives way to full-on ugly laughing (like ugly crying but more mirth-filled).
It brought back some pretty clear memories of what it was like to actually be this dude...
Owl. Poor long suffering Owl. He's the "straight" in the mix of strange (and in the majority of cases, truly bloody horrible) characters that infest Simon Hanselmann's genius strips. Megg is a witch with all the goals and aspirations of your average stoner, ie to get f*cked up at every opportunity while doing as little as possible to contribute to their shared household usefully or economically.
Mogg, her 'significant other' is a cat. No really, he's an actual cat. He's equally obsessed with rimming and getting high, lives off his rich parents (until they cut him off), and again drives Owl absolutely mad with his complete lack of giving a flying f*ck.
Owl is the designated driver, the "sensible" adult who pays the bills and seems to be locked in a constant cycle of cleaning up and nagging the others. I was Owl when I was a hall bursar while working at a University early on in my career, and I can honestly say that I've never felt such empathy for a character in a stoner comedy as I do for this dude. BUT before you get carried away with the idea that Owl is a victim, he reveals himself (quite literally at times) to be a nefarious ne'er do well, a consummate lech, a foul disease-raddled sexual deviant and alcoholic (and that, gentle readers, is where the comparison between myself and Owl ends, thankfully!)
Megg, Mogg and Owl are also frequently joined by Werewolf Jones. He's part dealer, part entrepreneur and felt-hat maker (something that just makes me cackle for some reason, the thought of a hedonistic werewolf making felt hats to sell on Etsy is just too funny for words). But he's also the world's worst parent and quite a few times reading through later volumes of these graphic novels, I found myself really detesting WWJ (but of course he's crafted this way on purpose). Sample the delights of WWJ's parenting skills...
(This is a fairly mild example of how truly awful a parent he is, I mean some of the other examples are a really tough read to be honest!)
Every situational story needs an antagonist, and Werewolf Jones is actually worse than both Megg and Mogg combined, in terms of how he manages to create complete and utter chaos from any scenario, often resulting in him screwing, (literally) sh*tting on, ODing in the presence of or visiting extreme violence on other characters to pursue his hedonistic and self-destructive whims.
It feels like Hanselmann was trying to create the ultimate detestable character, but in tiny instances there are times when even though WWJ's situations are largely his own fault, you feel this weird tiny glimmer of sympathy for him. Weird, and tiny but there nonetheless.
"Megahex" (the first volume) was followed by "Megg and Mogg in Amsterdam", then "One More Year" and finally (so far) "Bad Gateway". There's also a collection curated by Hanselmann of all the shorts, online strips and other bits and bobs called "Stems and Seeds" which is worth a look too.
If I'm brutally honest, I think Megahex was hilarious but the other three spiral into a depressing cycle of what it must actually be like to be 100% committed to being a f*cked up drug-dependent For example when Owl finally has enough of being crapped on, dissed and (in one rather gut-wrenching scene) sexually assaulted and moves out, Megg and Mogg move Werewolf Jones in. Hanselmann brilliantly depicts the general slide downhill of the collective household in excellent detail, their house becoming more and more of a trash-filled eyesore now the 'stable' member of the crew has gone.
Despite "Megahex" being the best of the bunch, there are some hilarious bits in the other volumes (and a lot more moments where you really wish someone had invented mind rubbers to rid you of the memory of some of the more stomach-churning or disturbingly dark scenes).
So many reviews go on about this series being "more than just a stoner comedy" and that's fair. In fact the more you dig in, the more you start analysing its purpose for existing. Is it trying to get you on, or put you off drugs? Is it setting Owl up as the paragon of virtue or showing you that even a saintly character is, under the surface, a walking cesspit merely wearing a mask (or a fake beak).
Does it make you sympathise with Megg and the absolute crap she has to put up with from all of the male cast of the comic, whether they're main, secondary or just passers-by? Some of those elements make for the most fascinating reading, and again will have you nodding and mumbling "yeah I've seen crap like that happen" or "I've had crap like that happen to me".
Whether you want to deeply analyse "Megahex" and the other volumes, or just want a few guilty filthy laughs, one thing's for sure, Simon Hanselmann has a gift for constructing the sort of comic strips that are seemingly (sadly) dying out in the industry. The strip format has so much to offer in terms of conveying a timeline, a storyline, allowing for development of characters, allowing for crazy narratives and Simon's artwork veers from simple to beautiful in the course of one story. Brutal and grubby one moment, then soaring into exquisitely surreal trip-out art in the next.
Ultimately I really wanted to laugh as long, as loud and as guiltily as I did with the first volume but tbh "Megahex" is the standout, the others just veer too far into "f*ck this is a tough read" territory for me, but I am a self-confessed wimp so...yeah, maybe you'll like 'em better than I did. Either way, if you're after something blacker than an episode of "Black Mirror", punctuated with moments of puerile but gut-hurtingly funny comedy, this should be your next trip.
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