Pretty brutal Goodreads average here for what I deem well done comics, sort of minimal, with barely tolerable main characters who are essentially conning each other in different ways. Healy opens this with a section declaring this as TOTALLY FICTION, NOTHING to do with ME and then interrupts the story half way to take a break and reassert that this is TOTALLY fiction, so that is funny. The “Superhero” Trademark: how the name of a genre came to be owned by DC and Marvel, and how they enforce it Main character Frank is, like Healy himself, a stand-up from Dublin, plying his trade in London, whose anxiety issues are compounded when his friend Giorgio is hit by a bus, leaving Frank to help care for him as he recovers from his (not particularly life-threatening) injuries. Both Irish, gay and living in London, they have the kind of paradoxical close connection familiar to childhood friends, despite the fact they can go weeks or months without seeing each other and sometimes appear to have little else in common. As suspicions around Giorgio’s conduct mount, we watch as Frank attempts to care for his own mental health, a burgeoning comedy career and the needs of a poorly and sometimes obnoxious friend, all while trying to get to the bottom of the love/hate relationship that binds them together. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a comic written by a comic, it’s also one of the funniest books you will ever read about friendship, anxiety and the nature of truth and fiction. LH: I’m working on a new book called Selfish. It’s a fake memoir of the next 20 years of my life, about me being a narcissist and caring about my career while climate change destroys the Earth and floods every major city. Meanwhile, I’m like, “Will I work again?”

A beautifully observed masterpiece... The Con Artists by Luke Healy is my favourite graphic novel of the year so far, and to be honest, it might just be among my favourite comics ever."—Rachel Cooke, The Guardian But I draw a very hard line about calling something nonfiction—for me it needs to be as close to my recollection of reality as possible. If it’s embellished at all, I prefer to classify it as fiction, which is why this book is largely classified as fiction. I had this big crisis concerning writing about other people’s lives. If I’m writing about myself and subconsciously or accidentally altering stuff, it’s just about me and I won’t be misrepresenting anybody’s life experience but my own. Frank (the standup comedian who is the book’s narrator) and Giorgio were friends as children, and on paper they’re very similar: both Irish in London, both gay and both single. But in adulthood, they’re not especially close, meeting up only every few months or so – until, one day, Giorgio calls Frank and tells him he has been hit by a bus. His wrist is broken. Could Frank look after him when he gets home? It’s worried Frank, not Giorgio, who asks this question, but almost immediately he begins to regret the offer. Giorgio is a nightmare patient, as demanding as a hotel guest, for all that it’s in his house that they’re staying. It’s almost sinister, the way he insists that Frank washes his hair or cuts up his dinner – and there’s something else, too. How is he making a living? In the bathroom, the soap is flashy – Frank would have to play three gigs to buy it – but his friend is getting letters from the benefits office. Nothing makes any sense, and trying to work it all out triggers Frank’s already quite bad anxiety.

Review

LH: Make short and really bad stuff. I’m a terrible perfectionist and my big problem is often getting started. Just sit down and purposefully make the worst comic you can, but finish it. If you try to make something horrible, by the end, you’ll want to make something good. From the title of his latest graphic novel— The Con Artists—Luke Healy lets the reader know what they’re getting into. The question, though, is who the con artists are and who they’re conning. And, of course, to what end?

In The Con Artists, the other main character Giorgio, is by far the most intimate portrait of another person that I’ve ever included in my work. I always try to keep it from the lead character’s perspective, where everything that happens is a reflection of them, and you never truly get to know the other characters. The real relationship is between the reader and me. That’s the truly intimate relationship. However, it’s much later in the book that the reader finds out the real reason Frank has been helping Giorgio all along. Frank has been unable to admit a reality about their relationship to himself, conning himself into believing he’s simply being a good friend, and, thus, conning the reader into believing Frank is somebody he’s not. Because readers only see Frank’s point of view, they only realize the extent of the con when Frank admits a truth he’s been hiding. LH: It’s a sort of compliment. It’s a devastating compliment because it means you have a clear enough voice that someone can imitate it, but it’s not nice to feel seen. LH: The character who functions as a stand-in for me uses material that I was doing before COVID. The other stand-up who appears in the book, Ro, is based on a friend of mine, Laufey Haraldsdóttir, and she’s an Icelandic comedian. Ro’s stand-up is me parodying her real standup, and so it was a fun thing to write what she would do, but gently rib it as well.

Featured Reviews

In this book, Girard recounts the perhaps-true, perhaps-not tale of attending his 10-year high-school reunion. His jittery line, and talent for capturing emotion, reveal a man so anxious about the event that he’s willing to go to absurd lengths to impress his former classmates. Girard’s bravery in portraying himself as a very unlikable character is admirable, and brings a certain acidity to this hilarious, awkward and cringe-inducing tale. Luke Healy is a master at creating genuine characters with stories that never fail to pull me in and keep me there.”―Noah Van Sciver, Fante Bukowski The central question that animates ‘The Con Artists’ is: what does it mean to watch someone struggle?

This is going to be Frank’s year. He’s going to do it find love, become a famous comedian, and responsibly parent his plants. But then, Giorgio gets hit by a bus. Healy’s bittersweet portrayal of a troubled friendship is full of finely observed detail and deadpan humour, but it’s also a deeply felt exploration of happiness, trust and the lies we tell our friends and ourselves."― Guardian Best Graphic Novels of 2022

Advance Praise

CR: In the book, there are scenes where the characters are telling their jokes before an audience. Do you use your own jokes to shape these sequences? This graphic novel [presents an] ... introspective journey, especially as it relates to ... anxiety and guilt."— Booklist Perhaps true, perhaps not … detail from cover art for Reunion by Pascal Girard. Photograph: Pascal Girard