If a gritty noir graphic novel with a “hardboiled hard drinking leather loving dyke detective” sounds up your alley, pick Deprog up—though you might want to give the content warnings a glance first. I thought that was what I wanted, but I quickly realized this was a darker read than I’m currently in the headspace for.
Tate escaped from a cult, and now she “deprograms” people who have gone through something similar. When a genderqueer femme fatale walks into her office asking to help save their brother from an extremist group, it seems like any other case—until Vera describes a set of beliefs that sounds a lot like what Tate left behind. But that’s impossible, because she was the only survivor… wasn’t she?
I love the art style here and the queer take on noir, as well as the emphasis on kink and BDSM. It is a disturbing read, though, including abuse, murder, gore, rape, and quite a bit of incest. There are panels of people’s skin melting off their bones and on-page sex scenes between family members. It turned out to be a little much for me—which is my fault for not recognizing that before picking it up. If you are a fan of more unsettling reads, though—the darker side of thrillers that verges on horror—I think this would be up your alley.
Despite it not being my style, I am glad this exists, because it’s fun to see a classic noir detective story with a lesbian of color as the main character, not to mention a genderqueer femme fatale. This is a dark, erotic, surprising, and disturbing read, perfect for fans of queer noir.
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