Men I Trust

Their bold style mostly darker colours, figures with large bodies and small heads makes for eye-catching reading. Each page could stand alone as a work of art. -- Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen * The Guardian * Parrishs bodies dominate the room (and the page), and yet their sheer expanse seems to accentuate their vulnerability as much as their power. They are inescapable, and inescapably exposed Even the quietest moments have a wildness lurking within them, a sense of things being on the verge of going to pieces or bursting into life. -- Gabriel Winslow-Yost * The New York Review of Books * I urge you to try Men I Trust by Tommi Parrish, the most visually dazzling graphic novel Ive read this year. While most stick to pen and ink, here every frame is a painting; the use of colour and line reminds me of Cat With Red Fish-era Matisse A young Australian, Parrish worked up to 15 hours a day on this novel for three years without a break. With unflinching psychological realism, it tells the story of a struggling single mother and performance poet who forms an unhealthily close friendship with a fan, in a tale that builds to a harrowing heart-in-mouth climax. -- Tristram Fane Saunders * The Telegraph * Men I Trust by Tommi Parrish, renders the messiness of modern life into vivid, gorgeous art. A single parent and a sex worker strike up an intimate friendship in this singular story, told through bold figures and atmospheric splashes. -- Katie Goh * i-D Magazine * Men I Trust sees Parrish perfectly capture the vulnerability, tension and flux of navigating relationships romantic, familial, self-fulfilment under the pressures of capitalism [T]heres something about the graphic form here that enduringly captivates Parrish depicts all this with intelligence, heart and a trust in the reader that can only be adequately rendered on the page with the intricate power of their visual language. -- Oliver Reeson * The Saturday Paper * Lambda Awardwinner Parrish (The Lie and How We Told It) delivers an unflinching examination of two women as they tentatively form a friendship while coping with messy personal circumstances Parrishs gift for nuanced characterisations and dialogue juxtapose with their distinctive, highly stylised art, in which characters sport exaggeratedly bulky, awkward bodies and small heads. This humane, insightful tale should further burnish Parrishs reputation as a first-rate artist and storyteller. -- <i>Publishers Weekly</i>, starred review Parrishs tactile paintwork conjures humans with hulking bodies and baseball heads, all of them wondering whether the messes they're in are the result of mistakes they've made or some kind of perverse destiny they were always bound for. * Vulture * Parrish relentlessly interrogates issues of gender and sexuality, pointing out that strict binaries are mostly jerry-built and easily broken. * PEN * With each hand-painted panel, author Tommi Parrish communicates an intense atmosphere and delves thoughtfully into the themes of queer desire, masculinity, fear, and the fading of past relationships. * Eyes on Design * With the palette of Simon Hanselmann and the emotional heft of Adrian Tomine, Parrish paints a realistic and intimate portrait of queer friendship, the colourful, genderless characters avatars for anyone grappling with how to live a meaningful life under capitalism. Parrishs trademark painted figures animate a nuanced and highly relatable depiction of anxiety, depression and complicated relationships, the characters of Eliza and Sasha alive with humour, personality and astutely observed thoughts and feelings Parrishs work continues to reclaim brightness and boldness in the service of rendering real human lives. Men I Trust is a beautiful and honest work from an artist deserving of all of the home-country recognition that will no doubt finally come

Tommi Parrish is a cartoonist, illustrator, and art editor based in Montreal. Their previous work, The Lie And How We Told It, was nominated for the Ignatz awards and won the 2019 Lambda Literary Award for Best LGBTQ Graphic Novel.