There are scores of talented cartoonists on the Bluesky social media network. sleepyhouse2 from Detroit, Michigan stands out among the crowd with her sometimes haunting posts and colourful serialized comics stories. Amongst the Manga-inspired or YA-style artists, sleepyhouse2’s unique distended figures inhabiting frenetic, dark storylines shine like a transgressive beacon.
Despite being serialized one page at a time online, her Hard Core Drugs is a remarkably succinct story. Whereas most webcomics are open-ended, sleepyhouse2 tells a tightly plotted story in just 58 pages.
The story follows one-day in the life of three long-time friends hanging out at The Kirche Street Pharmacy in 1973 San Francisco: Eli Siskind, recovering addict who works at the pharmacy (and deals hard core drugs from behind the counter!) ; Julian Hanshaw, former doctor and ex-mental patient; and, Joey Moskowitz, amputee sex worker. The everyday drama between the trio starts soon after Joey leaves to work their corner and Julian suffers a seizure and gets a gash on his head. While Eli helps him clean up, Joey’s day takes a turn as after a busy morning, and picking up another client, gets punched in the face when the guy discovers Joey’s a guy as well (Joey’s penis is cleverly censored with a cartoon elephant head with its trunk hanging down, a wonderful way to convey the client’s confusion).
Sleepyhouse2 ratchets up the dramatic tension as a junkie comes into the pharmacy looking to score. The junkie offers to exchange sex with Julian for the drugs and Julian melts down. Trying to get rid of him, Eli gives him the drugs and the junkie locks himself in the pharmacy bathroom. Simultaneously, Joey picks up a client with an all too enthusiastic amputee fetish. These two situations unfold in a horrific downward spiral that culminates in a way we didn’t see coming at all.
I love the complexity of the narrative, especially the use of flashbacks as a mirror of the trauma happening to the characters in 1973 and their past abuse. The past just bleeds so seamlessly into the present, it’s really a masterclass in manipulating the perception of time on the comics page. Not only that, the glimpses into the past amplify and drive forward the overall sequential narrative rather relentlessly.
Sleepyhouse2’s art stands out from other alternative cartoonists by having an incredible two-dimensional quality to it. This is meant as the highest praise possible, for the dialogue, sound effects, characters, and backgrounds are all arranged to convey the most information possible on each individual page. Figures are wonderfully pliable to fit in the limited space between word balloons, with exaggerated facial expressions and body language conveying the extreme emotions of the characters. The style of art is very unusual, taking elements of horror Manga and mixing it with a raw, more personal expressiveness. Every page is coloured in a distressed yellow that also adds to the overall tone of the story, almost as if the reader is looking at a faded magazine from 1973.
If you are looking for something different, a bit of horror, a bit of film noir, told with an incredibly expressive, wholly unique vision, Hard Core Drugs is worthy of your attention.
Sleepyhouse2 (W/A) • Self-published
Available free online at Comic Fury or the Sleepyhouse2 website
Review by Gary Usher
