“Fangs” by Sarah Andersen
If you’ve spent basically more than two hours on the Internet, especially around such parts as social media or Reddit, then you’ve seen work by Sarah Andersen. Her drawings/comic strips/etc., usually collected under the banner of “Sarah’s Scribbles”, are a funny and adorable way of exposing deep emotional truths that are relatable and not always pleasant.
Her work, specifically using that particular cartoon avatar, feels very much like the mash-up of Allie Brosh and Jhonen Vasquez, which is to say a goth kid with an abundance of self-awareness, anxieties, creativity, and dark humor. It’s not hard to find in those comics that sort of whistling in the graveyard approach of Edward Gorey or the bleak (but oddly positive?) style of Don Hertzfeldt. Even though her emotions and thoughts are shown via comic strips in exaggerated fashion, they are still very much grounded in recognizable thought patterns and experiences. Andersen has found a way to acknowledge issues with a laugh without trying to laugh them off. And, in doing so, has rightfully found fans the world over who appreciate seeing parts of themselves in the inks of her work.
But we are not here to discuss “Sarah’s Scribbles”—though folks should most definitely go and check out her work there.
Today we are looking at Ms. Andersen’s 2020 book, Fangs. The book is less of a singular/traditional narrative and more of a collection of glimpses into a romantic relationship. Specifically, romantic relationship between a werewolf and a vampire (vampiress? That seems antiquated…but then wouldn’t vamps like antiques?). The book began as a webcomic on Tapas before being collected into a really cool hardcover edition (that once again gives off that particular goth vibe of decadence and irreverence).
Put out by Andrew McMeel Publishing, Fangs begins…at the beginning with the duo meeting up at a bar. The title of the book and the way the lady from the cover (we learn her name is ‘Elsie’) is drawn makes it pretty clear that she is a child of the night, but I didn’t realize her bar pick-up, Jimmy, is a werewolf, even though he literally tells her that.
To be fair…I don’t know what I thought this was going to be. I think I was expecting something akin to Craig Robinson’s Box Office Poison or those stories in Too Much Coffee Man from Shannon Wheeler that were about essentially an artist bottoming out while others find themselves. Yeah, I have no idea where that came from either. But I was pleasantly surprised to find this truly adorable collection of romantic vignettes between monsters that find the right person, er, being to be with. It’s a simple color palette of black and white with pretty strong line work for Elsie that contains more than a little bit of manga influence, which is a nice way to visually and tonally depart from the “Sarah’s Scribbles” work.
Fangs by Sarah Andersen, 2020, Andrew McMeel Publishing.
Meanwhile Jimmy remains a bit more shaggy (and reminiscent of a character from King Of The Hill), but still more of a stylized character closer to the “real” than the cartoonish. I’ve Got Issues is meant to be a place to look back at the weird or the forgotten in comics, but it was also intended to be a place to spotlight some books and artists that deserve more recognition and support. Andersen and Fangs certainly belong in that latter category. There’s a bunch of Cryptkeeper-esque jokes with gallows humor and horror tropes, which is almost always a welcomed delight (I feel like if I were at the dentist and he was telling me about “gingi-bite-is”, I would not be in the mood for such shenanigans). But the strips aren’t simply excuses for set-up/punchline style romantic sitcom jokes. Like her other work, Andersen sneaks in that honesty in the disguise of her macabre meet cutes.
The artist is able to capture the rhythm that develops with relationships. Both in terms of activities—especially when one is governed by the full moon—but also in that invisible banter. It’s incredibly hard to describe, but there becomes an inherent call-and-response between two partners in a relationship; each is unique to the particular coupling, and there are variations depending on the situation. But the cadence of the words, the tones of the voices, tend to complement each other more and more as time rolls on.
For some, that worn groove can be felt like complacency or a boring trap, so they spring out. Or maybe the duet doesn’t work as well as it should, always a few beats off or in the wrong key.
But for most it seems to develop over time, spent over hours of conversation about the past, present, and future while talking on the phone, lying on the couch, or hanging out at a table. A conversational jam session that isn’t just comforting and familiar, but still yields new discoveries, jokes, and the bedrock for inside jokes to come.
Fangs is a very quick read. The usually-page long comics are self-contained (though again, are in a broader story of a wolfboy meets undead girl and their relationship flowers over time), with some parts broken up by sketches of Elsie in various gothic garb that would be perfect for the cover of every awkward dark high schooler everywhere. But if interested in enjoying some fun horror jibes, a cute but not schmaltzy romance, and a nice blend of styles within a single comic panel, then it’s certainly worth picking up. Especially because, despite the fantastical nature of the duo and their delight for Elvira-type jokes, there exists that streak of earnestness that runs through all of Andersen’s work. These are people figuring out how to be together; let alone IF they should be together. There’s a sense that some moments may be heading towards a fight between them if not diffused by a quiet act of kindness or joke to deflate the situation. Hopefully there’ll be more Fangs to come as this pair is as adorable as they are abominable.