Identity Thief (Fanboy comics)
Written By: Bryant Dillon
Art and Design By: Meaghan O’Keefe
With the title of Identity Thief, there are two points of view I took when reading this comic and how it applies to this particular story;
1) Within the first pages, you get to be comfortable with the two characters, a young couple, as they move into a new apartment. The writer tries to make you relate to this pair as we see the recent college graduate is a “geek boy” an his girlfriend the rare “hot brunette with geek fetish.” We also learn that the “geek boy” had a slightly troubled past as he is outted as being a credit card thief, A.K.A. identity thief.
2) After spending some time meeting the couple, there is a mysterious attic door that they didn’t know about when moving into the apartment (cue horror movie soundtrack). When they are sleeping or away for work, a grotesque abomination crawls out of the attic door and begins to investigate the geek boy’s belongings (safe to assume it is trying to become the young man). This made my skin crawl and still does just thinking about it. It is a complete concept that horrifies me and gives me that nervous twitch; to have something crawling around, touching me in my sleep. The entire purpose of this thing’s terrifying poking around, is to assimilate the young man who is unaware it’s stealing his identity
Taking a brief pause to calm my jumping heart, the drawings and art style of this graphic novel seem taken straight from an artist’s sketch book. Much like in the graphic novel where the creepy-crawly thing implants itself in one of the young artist’s drawings, in the actual comics illustrations I felt like the identity thief monster could inch its haunting way off the pages. You can visibly see the struggle of the young man as he tries to keep himself clear from trouble as his facial expressions get warped and twisted.
What I really love about this book, other than making my skin crawl, is that there are so many ways to interpret what the story actually is. Is it a story about a couple moving into a new apartment that has a lurking creature? Is it a story about a young man moving across country and forming a new identity for himself? Or is it a metaphor for his losing battle, to not become the monster who steals other people’s identities? I’m sure there are even more complex ways of looking at this novel, or maybe I could be reading into it too much. Either way, this comic did what every graphic novel should, get your mind and heart racing. I could even see this turning into a great thriller or horror movie someday.