Wuvable Oaf by Ed Luce stands alone, in a very fluffy room, as a one-of-a-kind, hilarious, weird, graphic, insane piece of work.

The black and white (and once, pink) artwork is lovely and mixes the crazy illustrations of Oaf and other characters among cute kitties and some really wild and creatively bizarre creatures and nightmarish visions. It's just unlike anything else you will read.

Oaf, our lead character, is... well, he's wuvable. Cats love him, and he loves them, and so they crawl all over him and he owns a ton. He is super hairy and he makes his own Oaf Dolls which he stuffs with his own shaven body hair. It's already out-there, isn't it? Well, it takes to the skies with it's outlandish stories, and I loved it. There are some stand-alone strips in here, as well as a long story that makes up the bulk of the book. Oaf meets a singer from a band and the story follows his relationship with him, as well as Oaf's past, his hobbies, his love-life. The stand-alone stories are even wilder and more peculiar, with stories of internal organ staining, cat-apocalyptic-fighting and more.

To explain Wuvable Oaf is to take the fun out of your experience though. Just head into this blind and with a sense of humour and you will truly find something completely unique. For me, as graphic and adult and messed-up as it often was, I ate up every last page. This was bloody magnificent.

5 out of 5

Fun!

Structurally, Wuvable Oaf follows the standard day-in-the-life autobiographical comic template of the 00s. It’s two twists are 1) setting that in a cartoonish version of San Francisco filled with pro wrestling, metal bands and bizarre chefs & 2) a distinct artistic style.

Ed Luce has great character design and does a good job of creating full characters, but his art is just not that dynamic. And not to nit-pick, but some word ballon placement is pretty off. However, I do like his pastiches of other comic characters. Those are very on model and show his artistic skill and attention to detail.

Art aside, the comic just didn’t work for me. It’s supposed to be a humor comic, but I didn’t really find it funny. The Goteblüd story is pretty much the only bit that really got me.

The comic also doesn’t work very well narratively. The main story just stops and it felt like the first three issues of a 6 issue series (which is kinda what it is). The semi-related short stories that fill out most of the rest of the book are fine as far as it goes; they flesh out the characters & world Luce’s created and have a couple of chuckles (specifically the beard contest story). But this book really feels incomplete, which makes it very unsatisfying given it’s length. It feels more like an artist’s portfolio than a book.

This was one weird book. I liked it though. Oaf was a pretty likable character. Rough around the edges but also sweet and kind. His world though, whew. The band and the members were...interesting. I did like Eiffel and he and Oaf together were pretty sweet.

My face the entire time: (O.o)

I chose this book almost solely by the cover and the title. How could I not?!! It's not like it was a true gamble because the publisher (Fantagraphics Books) puts out great work, it cost me nothing (Viva la Library!), and graphic novels just don't take that long to read. But I had no idea just what a treat I was in for...

Luce creates an entire universe of mostly hirsute "bears" in San Francisco revolving around the quite "wuvable" Oaf. He's a doll-maker who stuffs his creations with his own body hair (which he can grow back by force of will alone):


He's also a self-proclaimed cat-philanthropist. Out of dozens of cats, he cares for one special-needs kitty named Pavel. Pavel only calms down when in direct physical contact with Oaf. Here is what he is like when left alone in his own private, padded room:


But before Oaf became Oaf, he grew famous as a professional "wrassler" known as Goteblud:


Oaf is looking for love and acceptance. He has a musky scent about him that almost never leaves. His first kisses often involve an awkward clashing of teeth. He loves hard metal, but also Morrissey. He falls for a disco grindcore metal singer name Eiffel. Eiffel's singing is described as a combination of the following artists:


What the hell does all this add up to? A truly bizarre and hilarious self-contained world complete with beard contests judged by Yukon Jack, gay metal band love trapezoids, and riffs on all manner of media and culture (a celebrity chef's restaurant called Rage Against the Cuisine where diners get to kill their own dinner, a pro-wrestling subculture, various tributes to the '80s, and sub-universes based on Oaf special- or one-time issues). Fun, funny, and disgustingly adorable.

2.5

Wuvable Oaf is the greatest love story of our time between an oaf and his cats. Oh and also a between an oaf and a tiny rage-filled screamo lead singer. As a fellow weird cat-loving queer, my love of this comic book cannot be overstated.