Comic : swap

spoiler alert

Emerging to the limelight this time is a sleeper-hit comic from Gerbek Studio, an independent small circle of illustrators which - as stated on their description - 'aims to deliver an original, unique, and challenging comic' to the public. By any means this circle has no direct connection to Genshiken ITB, however it's worth noticing that majority of their core members are members of Genshiken ITB as well. Then again, it's not the first time we featured an external material whose content intersects with Genshiken ITB somewhere either, and this one's worth a look - really.

Blanketed within the surge of minimalistic colors and bold lines is swap, an original comic skillfully crafted from the depths of Narendra B. Adi (Genshiken ITB / DKV ITB 2012)'s mind, this relatively short comic (27 pages in total) portrays a story of an unnamed youth seeking refuge from his approaching deadline. Everything seemed fine until within his solitary confinement a certain social media website exposed him to a horror never-seen before - pictures of human doing animals' jobs with the animals itself on the supervising outpost.

Switch-of-fate, you might say. Like a pack of flying whales he thought it's too good to be true, and therefore leaving him a skeptic stance as his best opt of stance. Amidst the disbelief surrounding him a chat notification shatters his concentration. Not knowing whether it's a bless or a distraction regarding his deadline, through the chat he agreed to spend the day after with his old friends for a quick walk. What happened afterwards, though, is better not to be spoiled here as it might ruin the story's main bombshell.

...oh, well, never mind. We'll leave a short clandestine spoiler here : it's a haunting tide of event to the absolute. Yes - to the absolute.

To be frank I myself was reading this excellent Facebook horror fanpage alone the midnight before, got intrigued by some of the well-written stories there, and went over a momentarily astonishing moment. This one's a completely different experience, though - perhaps it's best to quote Roger Ebert's fabled review on the everlasting horror-film Nosferatu which is greatly relevant to the aftertaste atmosphere driven by this tale :

I admire it more for its artistry and ideas, its atmosphere and images, than for its ability to manipulate my emotions... (truncated) ...but "Nosferatu" remains effective: It doesn’t scare us, but it haunts us. (source)

After all, I think it's best for you to experience yourself the grandeur this one-shot comic has to offer. It's as easy as clicking the link previously embedded, anyway. Please keep in mind that some of the imageries published contain grotesque element and not suitable to be consumed by minors - however, if you managed to overcome that, a wonderful surreal treat awaits.

- Nivalyx