Tender, Beth Hetland's debut grahic novel, is a well drawn, well paced tale of a darkness inhabiting the primal drives, lurking just beneath a thin veneer of superficial normalcy.  The wordless dream/nightmare sequences are especially effective, immersing readers in an experience of that liminal space between conscious desires and unconscious drives lying at the core of this work.

Fanta sez:

A psychological thriller about a woman obsessed with her vision for a picture-perfect, curated life. Carolanne wanted a perfect wedding, a perfect husband, a perfect family. She carefully performs her own roles (gal pal, bestie, girlfriend, wife, and expectant mother) and in trying to enact agency over her life, sacrifices it completely. Her desire to control the uncontrollable ultimately becomes her undoing. When things don't go her way, she exerts dominance over the one thing she does have total control over: her body; until that "betrays" her. After suffering a horrible loss, Carolanne spirals into a literal, all-consuming delusion that will engross comics readers and horror aficionados alike.

Chicago cartoonist and educator Beth Hetland's graphic novel debut is a brilliant psychological thriller that tears down the wall of a genre — body horror — so often identified with male creators. Heady and visceral, Tender uses horrific tropes to confront women's societal expectations of self-sacrifice despite those traditional roles often coming at the expense of female sexuality and empowerment.

Her peers say:

"A brutal critique of gender roles, social media, cultural pressures & expectations, Tender is a triumph." — Rob Clough - High Low Comics

"An incredibly paced horror story that's equal parts sardonic, gruesome, and tender. A Jeanne Dielman for the Instagram generation." — Katie Skelly

“It all starts off so unassuming, and then you feel yourself being dragged out to sea by an undertow of social pressure and oblivious platitudes.  This is a methodically relentless nightmare you’ll be praying won’t unfold the way it does.” – Ezra Claytan Daniels 

 

Pages: 162 | Format: Hardback | Full-color | Dimensions: 6.3" × 9.3" | ISBN-13: 9781683969358