Crenshaw's Books & Decks

This is a short silent allegorical graphic novel that touches on the subject of being different, feeling different, wanting to be different and not fitting within the group that is suppose the group you belong You were born with a gender but since your childhood felt that you are the opposite gender. You were born with a specific sexual orientation that is not "straight". You were born within a religious group that you struggle to fit in. You were born within a family of high-end professionals who wanted you to be like them, but you feel that you are a different sort of person. You were born in a family of lefties but you are very conservative. The examples could multiply to the infinite. Fox Bunny Funny depicts all of them masterly. In a way, this is a modern Aesop-sort-of fable, the lack of moral preaching is actually the moral of the story.

I love the cute drawing, which goes from the merely cute children cartoon style, to the not so childish childlike gory, to the tripy and almost psychedelic images at the end of the book. I love the overall humour of the book, and the imagination displayed in the conception of the world of rabbits, the world of foxes, and the mixed world. I found very inventive the shot guns that the foxes use, the church of the rabbits, the somewhat "depraved" and "subverted" mixed world at the end. There are many graphic elements that I considered inventive and humorous, which  put a smile in my face. 

The book is silent. However, the action and the expressiveness of the characters speak loudly. Being able to speak to everybody without words is just something difficult to achieve. On the other hand, there is much more to silent books than the specific explicit message drawn by the author. Silent stories allow the individualisation of the reading, to make the story just yours, to adapt it to what you want the story to be and what what the story tells you, specifically. They are Universal, but also less of a monolith.

I found that the transition from the childhood part story to the adult part was too abrupt. I would have loved some transitional elements and I think the book needed a few more pages at the end and also in between.The book is still good without them.

This is one of those books that can be read by pre-teens under supervision, as it tackles important issues about identity and fitting in Society in a very light and easy way, and it could give way to great discussions in the classroom or at home. The book might be disturbing for very small kids unless they are showing an important identity issue already.

A great graphic book.

Andy Hartzell is  an American interactive graphic designer and cartoonist.