Koyama exclusive: Don’t Come In Here imagines a surreal alternate Springfield

By Oliver Sava | May 6, 2016 | 5:00pm

Aux Features Books

The title of Patrick Kyle’s new Koyama graphic novel Don’t Come In Here is a warning, and some readers may feel alienated once they enter the abstract world Kyle creates on the page. Following a nameless tenant over the course of their lease in a new apartment, the book offers a bold perspective on the domestic experience, one primarily driven by surreal visuals that reinterpret the familiar in strange new ways. The narrative presented by the text is relatively sparse, but the visuals tell a story about one person’s struggle with anxiety and loneliness in their own home, emotions that are evoked by the shapes and patterns of Kyle’s art.

These preview pages have Kyle applying his unique point of view to The Simpsons as the main character recounts a recent dream about the cartoon, and that subject matter forces Kyle to take a more literal approach to evoke the look of the TV series. It’s a shift in the narrative that shows Kyle can move into more representational territory with his artwork, but he still retains an element of abstraction that makes his version of The Simpsons’ world strange and unsettling. The idiosyncrasies of Kyle’s work are explored throughout Don’t Come In Here, and readers looking for an abstract comics experience can pick up the graphic novel when it hits stands in the next few weeks.