Nick Drnaso's Graphic Novel 'Sabrina' Explores Grief and Conspiracy in Contemporary America

Nick Drnaso's 200-page graphic novel 'Sabrina' presents a grim portrait of contemporary America through themes of grief, anger, and powerlessness. The story follows Calvin, a boundary technician working nightshifts in a windowless military complex in Colorado, whose wife and child have moved to Florida. Sabrina disappears, last seen on a security camera near her home, propelling multiple storylines. Her boyfriend Teddy, nearly catatonic with loss and a childhood friend of Calvin's, arrives in Colorado after her disappearance. A video of Sabrina's slaying by a young man who lived mostly on message boards circulates to newsrooms nationwide and surfaces online. This footage enters a 'post-truth' vortex where a reasonable-sounding demagogue promotes it as a 'false flag' event staged by the U.S. government to strip citizens of rights. Drnaso's drawings, created in Chicago, use sombre washes and gloomy half-light to capture alienating aspects of modern life like automobile isolation, tract housing, strip malls, online culture, and meaningless work. With anomie as a baseline and Sabrina's catastrophe layered on top, those most directly affected by the murder demonstrate heroic resilience. Drnaso's focus on this group and his ability to evoke empathy for their lives against a mad world elevates the story to literature. Published by Granta in hardcover for £16.99, the work was featured in the Summer 2018 issue of ArtReview.