First Year Healthy

First Year Healthy purports to be the story of a young woman, recently released from the hospital after an outburst, and her burgeoning relationship with an odd, perhaps criminal Turkish immigrant.

In a scant thirty-two pages, working with a vibrant, otherworldly palette of magentas, yellows, and greys, Michael DeForge brings to life a world whose shifting realities are as treacherous as the thin ice its narrator walks on.

First Year Healthy is all it appears to be and more: a parable about mental illness, a folk tale about magical cats, and a bizarre, compelling story about relationships. - - Michael DeForge's singular voice and vision have, in a few short years, rocketed his work to the apex of the contemporary comics canon.

Ant Colony was his first book with Drawn & Quarterly: it appeared on the New York Times Graphic Bestseller list and was lauded by the Chicago Tribune, Globe & Mail, and Harper's Magazine.

His effortless storytelling and eye for striking page design make each page of First Year Healthy a fascinating puzzle to be unravelled. - - First Year Healthy is knotty and mysterious - it demands to be read and reread. -