A review by tarae
Hair Shirt by Pat McEown

1.0

Picked this up from the library because I was captivated by the cover and the art throughout the book. I was captivated by the dream sequences as well, but not much else. I knew after 10 pages that I wasn't going to be interested in the story and would probably hate it, but I kept reading any way, because I just do these things to myself. So I read 100-something more pages about some straight boy's girl problems, his weird guilt about being a fucking creep, his totally unaware self-absorption, his jealously and paranoia, and his eye-roll inducing pseudo feminism. Which conveniently hinges on the contrast of him against Naomi as a manipulative, misogynist character; there's something really gross about a male comic who writes a shitty female character who encourages her boyfriend to rape or assault her friend (because she's insecure and jealous? because she had a fucked up childhood and abusive older brother? because she's engaging in some serious self-sabotage? it's not clear, who knows?) so the male protagonist can be appalled and respond with, more-or-less: "Yeah I like big tits but that doesn't make me a rapist!" I think I was supposed to like this guy?? I can't even tell. The only character I liked was Shaz, but she only existed to add even more conflict to John and Naomi's relationship. Gross, boring, alienating, and really just a mess. Everything to hate about a male-dominated comic world wrapped up in a short beautifully drawn and colored novel.