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Caribbean L 34 ife, June 28–July 4, 2019 BQ
Darla’s aparment
gives her the creeps
Book cover of “BTTM FDRS” by Ezra Claytan Daniels & Ben Passmore
“BTTM FDRS” by Ezra Claytan Daniels
& Ben Passmore
c.2019, Fantagraphics Books
$24.99 / $33.50 Canada
300 pages
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
Your first place all your own needs to
be ah-mazing.
Big-screen TV for gaming. Fridge
for snacks and drinks. Sofa for kicking
back, a few good chairs, and places to
hold your stuff. Maybe your parents will
help out. Maybe the landlord will let you
paint. Maybe, as in “BTTM FDRS” by Ezra
Claytan Daniels and Ben Passsmore, your
new place will be interesting.
When it came time to finally get her
own apartment, Darla didn’t bother
to look far. She grew up in Chicago’s
Bottomyards and though it still wasn’t
the safest place on Earth, the former
ghetto was gentrifying. That counted for
something, right?
Her father hated the building; he warned
her away and yeah, it was super-creepy but
the rent was good. The place was roomy,
but also had room for improvement: as
Darla moved in, the electricity kept going
out and her friend, Cynthia, messed up the
plumbing. Even so, Darla had neighbors:
a famous rapper moved in down the hall
and she met an elderly lady and her son
from downstairs.
Was it the stress of the move, then,
or the stress of living in the place itself
that made Darla fight with Cynthia soon
after Darla spent her first night alone?
Who knows, but they argued and the
friendship was over — or Darla thought
it was, anyhow, but Cynthia had second
thoughts. She snuck back into Darla’s
apartment, got totally creeped out, hid in
a cabinet, and fell down a tunnel…
… and into a creature that wrapped
Cynthia into itself and overtook her body.
Unaware of the deadly organism
that her best friend was fighting in the
basement of the apartment building,
Darla hung out with the famous rapper
down the hall until she started noticing
a lot of weird things. There were cameras
in the apartments, and eerie noises. The
building superintendent was super-creepy
and the whole place was like a dungeon.
And then she found Cynthia – or, at least,
what was left of her.
Was there time for Darla to get out
alive?
If you’re not familiar with graphic
novels — which are basically full-length
stories in comic art form — “BTTM
FDRS” might take a bit of getting used
to. It doesn’t help that this tale starts
abruptly, and with racism that feels like
a slap.
Keep reading. That slap ultimately
turns into a shiver.
With color-blocked panels and not
a lot of fluff or dialogue, authors Ezra
Claytan Daniels and Ben Passmore take
readers into what could be perceived as
commentary on today’s social problems,
or sly pokes at gentrification and modern
segregation, in the future or now. The
story is sly, almost backhanded and, much
like the creature in this book, eats its
way into your imagination until your
hands sweat, your eyes dart wildly, and
you realize that you’ve been holding your
breath.
Let it go. You’re safe in your chair (for
now) but if you’re 15-and-up and you
love graphic horror novels, here’s your
next scare. For you, “BTTM FDRS” is
ah-mazing.
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