Dogtangle

Max Huffman

Book cover for Dogtangle
Image for variant 9798875001291
Book cover for Dogtangle
Image for variant 9798875001291

Dogtangle

Dogtangle

Max Huffman

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Description

Dogtangle opens with a town hall meeting in a Taco Bell nestled in the bland corporate environment of Business Park. A man, bleating to anyone who will listen about the evils of current zoning laws, meets a woman who works in pharmaceutical marketing. They begin a relationship. They get married. From their union springs the idea of the Hypermutt: a many-headed mass of dogs that absorbs each new dog it encounters.

This debut graphic novel from Chicago cartoonist Max Huffman, about an awful power couple who defy God and nature in creating a hound of hell for our times, is at turns a rich satirical fable, a white-collar black comedy, and a stylistic tour de force blending elements of abstraction, cubism, mid-century modernism, and visual sight gags. One of the most visually distinctive and funny graphic novels in recent memory, Dogtangle is also underpinned with a deep mistrust of corporate and cultural hegemony, cementing its relevance in our increasingly oligarchal times.

Critical Reviews

Huffman's got his finger on the pulse of contemporary cultural and economic unease like few others, but he doesn't let the fact that he's dealing with some pretty weighty subjects ruin all the fun - and this comic is a LOT of fun.-- "Four-Color Apocalypse"

Dogtangle was my first Max Huffman comic that I've read and it was hilarious. I love his cartoony style. It's a fun, satirical way to look at corporate power and greed.-- "Taylor Talks Comics"

Dogtangle delivers sharp social critique through brilliantly abstract cartoons. The expressive, visually distinctive artwork is a joy to flick through.-- "Comics Bulletin"

Max Huffman's DOGTANGLE is an off the leash walk through a queasily off-kilter reality that still manages to feel real, if mostly lysergic.--Michael Cavender

Through the sheer madness, the intellectual heft, and the art that demands your enthusiastic participation, Dogtangle is one man's deeply human expression of living your life through art and trying to make a connection (any damn connection) in this day and age.-- "AIPT Comics"

Huffman allows us the satisfaction of seeing terrible people punished for their hubris... He's making science fiction about a world where corporate adventures have rewired the metaphysics of sky and animals.-- "The Comics Journal"

So far as I know, there are not a lot of Vorticist comics out there. Max's comics operate in some/several folded dimensions that are not totally forthcoming but must be captured and deciphered. The stories are zingy, go around impossible corners and I think Wyndham Lewis might have written a blurb for them as well.--Gary Panter

This is Jim Flora-esque, operatic, cartoon world-building, and world-ridiculing, and world-re-enchanting, and it's good.--Kevin Huizenga

What happens when a navel-gazing egocentric corporate creative decides to improve upon mankind's best friend? Horrors beyond comprehension of course! Beneath Dogtangle's beautiful stylized abstraction (I'm a big fan) is a blunt force absurdist critique of the tech-overlords and business elites remaking the world around us without our consent. I love this book!--Lale Westvind

Between the peculiar art, clever plotting, and general kooky vibe, Max Huffman has created a surrealist masterpiece.-- "The Newest Rant"

Huffman has a flair for character names--Caressa Vignette, Vernon Smilth, Councilman Burg--but it's his stylized, almost baroquely cartoony figures that steal the show. His cubist spin on mid-century comics illustration syncs lithe linework and ingenious use of negative space to the frenzied pace of the story. The result is a deliriously inventive send-up of corporate hubris.-- "Publishers Weekly"

Publishing Information

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Pub date: 2025-11-04
Length: 136 pages

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