Bookshelf: Malicious ants and an unfortunate dog in Michael DeForge's portfolio

We’re still reeling from meeting one man behind indie-cartoon favourite Adventure Time, so to keep up the theme of surreal US cartoon comedy, allow me to introduce you to yet another of the dextrous hands behind Finn and Jake’s adventures, Micheal DeForge. Michael’s been a gun-for-hire for the Cartoon Network for some time now, but in his spare hours he puts his skills to use on a whole host of other projects, from designing record sleeves to inking a slew of his own comics.

Populated with insecure, violent ant colonies, rednecks with extraordinary allergies and other, even more surreal narratives – at times darkly existential yet often wilfully puerile – Michael has a portfolio that few could match. He’s a skilled draftsman yet his style is simple, almost rudimentary, allowing the purity of his narratives to shine through (and presumably allowing him to more easily produce the enormous volume of work he does). If you’re already a fan of the surreal, or even if you just like to laugh, then Michael DeForge is a man we’d urge you to get acquainted with. “Youth culture forever!”