Six Hundred and Seventy-Six Apparitions of Killoffer

    (Typocrat)
™ and © 2005 Typocrat Press

French expatriate and self-described slacker Patrice Killoffer commences a brutal self-examination that produces startling results. An inscrutable eight page prelude about dirty dishes, pretty girls, and over-arching angst catapults the reader into a bleak, silent Bizarro-world populated by Killoffer’s six hundred and seventy-six doubles.

A veritable atrocity exhibition ensues as the proliferating doubles corrupt, parasitize, and molest the disconsolate Killoffer and some unfortunate others who happen along. The discursive prelude anchoring Killoffer’s psychotic bender generates an urgent, irresistible rhythm while the book’s open, free-form page continuity services Killoffer’s expanding, all-devouring psychic entropy.

The thematic emphasis on French literary standards like narcissism, self-loathing and the idea of the Self and the Other inevitably connects Killoffer to such canonical French cris de couer such as Jean-Paul Sartre’s existential manifesto Nausea and Roman Polanski’s vintage thriller Repulsion. Killoffer’s aggressive, confrontational stance injects the book with an immediacy eschewed by those older narratives. (Note: the book’s creator and its protagonist share the same name; one may also wonder about the artist’s biographical intent.)

Originally published in France by L’Association in 2002, Mr. Killoffer re-lettered the book in English for its American publication by Typocrat Press in 2005. Unsuitable for minors and the faint of heart, Six Hundred and Seventy-Six Apparitions of Killoffer should find ardent admirers among readers of avant garde sequential art and underground comix in general.

— Leland Burrill

From the Comics Buyer’s Guide:

What a mindjob. Killoffer’s stunning—some would say shocking—look at the many mental and emotional facets of the artist as a multiple man through the eyes of, well, himself, is utterly engaging. Who is Killoffer? This doesn’t necessarily answer that question but it does offer a deep look-see into the mind of the creator (insofar as he presents himself in the book, that is).

Think this review sounds odd, circular, and repetitious to a confusing degree? Then it’s an apt reflection of the book. From bored to ecstatic, stoic to frenzied, orgasmic to tortured, the many sides of the Byronic protagonist are illustrated in blunt, blood-and-guts glory. It’s horrifying everyday reality, it’s the fantastic side of the mundane… it’s a wild and fast-paced ride. One could read the book in a matter of minutes, since dialogue is minimal—but it’s best absorbed over a much longer spell and multiple readings.

And for those who lose hair over how to file oddly sized comics, beware: This one measures a huge 10x14 inches. It’s a superb, unrelenting look inside the mind of its sole (676) character(s). It contemplates the question about why we shouldn’t let our demons out—as well as why we should.

— Ray Sidman
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