SIMPLICITY

Lubchansky’s second graphic novel melds dreamlike horror and anthropology in a story about seeking utopia in a hostile world.

In 2081, Lucius Pasternak, a young transgender academic, gets a commission to conduct an anthropological study of a radical luddite group, the Spiritual Association of Peers, in what was formerly a town called Simplicity in New York state. Lucius relocates from the industrial, smoke-belching, walled-in New York City Administrative & Security Territory to this community in one of the Exurb Zones. The whole project is funded by the Van Wervel Trust, which is working to establish a museum. The evil Mr. Van Wervel is also the mayor of the NYC-AST and looks like an early 1900s political cartoon of a monopolist. When Lucius arrives in Simplicity, the colors on the page transition from the gray and radioactive neon of the city to yellow sun and green plant life. The community was established in the 1970s, and it still exists in a similar form decades later, after the dissolution of the United States. Lucius is eager to interview subjects and start documenting his ethnographic findings, but the people don’t trust him at first, until he begins working the land alongside them. Although he was meant to observe, the freedom that the community members display with their feelings and bodies seduces him into becoming a participant. Lubchansky shows that nature is just as dangerous as the industrial city through the darkness of the forest and the gory violence that starts to encroach on the closed-off commune. Lucius’ relationship with one of the leaders, Amity, is thrown into jeopardy when he finds that his employer is planning to bulldoze the community in Simplicity to build the museum along with futuristic luxury apartments. Instead of returning to the city to share his findings, Lucius stays and tries to parse his dreams of a giant, Lovecraftian creature. Lucius and Amity seek out the dangers lurking in the woods around the enclave, and come across a dystopian conspiracy meant to crush their way of life.

Intense, imaginative visuals pair well with the futuristic fight between idealism and oppression.