Below Ambition

Prolific cartoonist Hanselmann follows last year’s magnum opus, Crisis Zone, with a tale focusing on recurring characters Megg the Witch and Werewolf Jones as they attempt to create a following for their band, Horse Mania. Within a few pages, it is clear that the protagonists would be better off doing almost anything else with their time and energy—they’re talentless, self-indulgent, lazy, and ultimately more interested in indulging in sordid rock-and-roll excess than in creating art or connecting with an audience. Several sequences, in fact, show the duo openly antagonizing the small audiences they’re given a chance to appear before. Hanselmann delivers a lacerating satire of the posturing hipsters and self-important weirdos rampant in the local live music scene, especially in a sequence following Horse Mania on a brief, disastrous trip to play a show in another town. There is more going on here than just bilious commentary, though. Hanselmann skillfully and subtly establishes the sadness and pain that drive Megg to sabotage herself time and time again, creating a deeply empathetic portrait at the center of this otherwise lurid maelstrom.