Graphic Novel Review: MBDL My Badly Drawn Life by Gipi

Posted on July 5, 2022 at 6:33 am by Gene Ambaum

MBDL My Badly Drawn Life by Gipi. Translator: Jamie Richards. Fantagraphics, 2022. 9781683965213. 144pp.

Gipi’s autobiographical graphic novel is almost totally without panel borders, and most of it looks as if it was scribbled with a pen. He breaks this format to great effect when the book suddenly has fully watercolored panels that take place in a different place. He comes across as a man obsessed with his penis and sex, a man with problems. Inside the book there are unreal moments, strange creatures, pirates, and several medical professionals. At the end is a beautiful comics sequence, perhaps made beautiful by its contrast to the ink-filled pages in the rest of the book, in which the narrator learns to swim.

I couldn’t say that I feel like I know Gipi incredibly well, but when I closed this book I had an awe for the art and page layouts and a desire to immediately read it again.