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Indigo Vertigo
Indigo Vertigo is a 48-page graphic novella, written by KatieJane Garside and illustrated by Dogwitch creator, Daniel Schaffer. It was published by Image Comics in 2005.
Indigo Vertigo is described as "the hallucinatory spectacle of one woman’s experience at the brink of reality."[citation needed] A quote from Warren Ellis on the back cover reads, "Like Sylvia Plath fucking David Lynch".
According to Schaffer, who acknowledges a heavy influence from Lynch (and also Japanese auteur, Shinya Tsukamoto), the book is an experiment in subjective storytelling, and came about as the result of an unconventional, intuitive creative process developed by himself and KatieJane Garside (vocalist with extreme rock band Queenadreena).[citation needed]
In an interview posted on comics news site The Pulse in 2005, Schaffer explains - "Indigo Vertigo is an attempt to connect to the reader by acknowledging the demons and empty spaces that are within everybody. If you’re going to do something like that without pretension or agenda, you have to first expose the same thing from within yourself, and so this book is a glimpse of that truth, from the perspective of both Katie and myself, with a little bit of space for the reader. It’s a book designed to reach out through example, and it will come alive if you bring something of yourself to it."
Indigo Vertigo is described as "the hallucinatory spectacle of one woman’s experience at the brink of reality."[citation needed] A quote from Warren Ellis on the back cover reads, "Like Sylvia Plath fucking David Lynch".
According to Schaffer, who acknowledges a heavy influence from Lynch (and also Japanese auteur, Shinya Tsukamoto), the book is an experiment in subjective storytelling, and came about as the result of an unconventional, intuitive creative process developed by himself and KatieJane Garside (vocalist with extreme rock band Queenadreena).[citation needed]
In an interview posted on comics news site The Pulse in 2005, Schaffer explains - "Indigo Vertigo is an attempt to connect to the reader by acknowledging the demons and empty spaces that are within everybody. If you’re going to do something like that without pretension or agenda, you have to first expose the same thing from within yourself, and so this book is a glimpse of that truth, from the perspective of both Katie and myself, with a little bit of space for the reader. It’s a book designed to reach out through example, and it will come alive if you bring something of yourself to it."
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 4, 2014
Looking at the myriad of not so flattering star reviews, it appears Indigo Vertigo is mostly a comic for fans of Katie Jane Garside - it's not so much a story as a journal entry of disparate parts, complemented by Dan Schaffer's excellent art. "It's like Sylvia Plath fucking David Lynch," is written by Warren Ellis on the back of the comic, and that is true for both the art style and the writing itself.
It's about a sick girl who wanders a city, lost but not lost, and the city warping itself as she walks through it, and the reconciliation of self, and self-harm, and isolation, and the expectations of others. Katie Jane Garside often writes about being a slave of sorts to the paradigms of others. She's taken out of her universe, folded into what other people expect of her. This is most easily seen on her songs in Queen Adreena like "FM Doll" and "Suck"
Really, it takes a lyrical genius to write the lines: "Force my hand, I will sign anything because I am lonely."
And this desperation and anger is evident in the stream of consciousness in "Indigo Vertigo."
I am cracks and splits
dog on a chain
man's best friend
Read it all at once - it'll take you 10 or 15 minutes. It's a short read, and not available new on Amazon, but worth it for the right kind of audience.
It's about a sick girl who wanders a city, lost but not lost, and the city warping itself as she walks through it, and the reconciliation of self, and self-harm, and isolation, and the expectations of others. Katie Jane Garside often writes about being a slave of sorts to the paradigms of others. She's taken out of her universe, folded into what other people expect of her. This is most easily seen on her songs in Queen Adreena like "FM Doll" and "Suck"
Really, it takes a lyrical genius to write the lines: "Force my hand, I will sign anything because I am lonely."
And this desperation and anger is evident in the stream of consciousness in "Indigo Vertigo."
I am cracks and splits
dog on a chain
man's best friend
Read it all at once - it'll take you 10 or 15 minutes. It's a short read, and not available new on Amazon, but worth it for the right kind of audience.
December 28, 2022
It's like Sylvia Plath meets Alan Moore's The Birth Caul.
A very dark, surreal noir comic.
A very dark, surreal noir comic.
June 28, 2022
I'm biased as a KJG fan, but this did impress me. It reminded me of Sarah Kane in it's fragmented prose and lack of true closure or resolution.
April 12, 2012
I loved this little slice of distortion. Such a vivid nightmare companion piece to Katejanes (just as) scattered body of work. It gripped me immediately with the line 'This time there are two birds and one is perpetually preparing for flight while the other is terrified of being left alone'. It's this duel nature of strength vs weakness that has always drawn me to Ms.Garsides work in the past and in my opinion gave me further insight in what her and Mr Schaffer were trying to get across. She follows very similar threads in this graphic novel as she does in her lyric writing. The story gels a bit more coherently than some of what she and her band mates have produced but readers should abandon hope of much linear storytelling.
I thought the artwork was wonderfully, bleakly layered and raw. The inclusion of fractured lyrics and script directions took me out of the narration in a good way. Almost like little life preservers; you don't have to drown with her because you're just watching. I do wish there had been just a few moments of color. Considering the ripping apart of our protagonist/antagonist some slashes and variations of color could have done the book well.
There's a lot of pieces to examine here but it all comes together, or rather, as intentioned, falls apart in the end.
I thought the artwork was wonderfully, bleakly layered and raw. The inclusion of fractured lyrics and script directions took me out of the narration in a good way. Almost like little life preservers; you don't have to drown with her because you're just watching. I do wish there had been just a few moments of color. Considering the ripping apart of our protagonist/antagonist some slashes and variations of color could have done the book well.
There's a lot of pieces to examine here but it all comes together, or rather, as intentioned, falls apart in the end.
April 21, 2009
a bit scattered but still interesting.
January 20, 2016
I didn't like it at first. That's why only 1 star. But then I've read other reviews and checked Queenadreena out. I can't stop listening. I'm actually going to read it again.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews