Holy Lacrimony

The post-alien abduction trauma memoir we’ve all been waiting for

“Ah, there’s that famous lip quiver!” says Jackie’s abductor and student. Jackie has been determined to be the “saddest living person in the entire world” by a mysterious team of alien abductors. His earthly musical celebrity is nothing compared to his emotional superstar status in the eyes of these curious and peculiar shape-shifters. Jackie is forced to perform his sadness over and over again on command, so his captors can study and master this very puzzling, very human emotion. Until just like that, Jackie is returned to his old life. Trying to comprehend what has happened, he joins a support group. It’s a sea of conspiracy theorists, emotional vampires, and simpatico “real” abductees. As each person tells their story, he realizes he may never know.

Holy Lacrimony is classic DeForge–oscillating between shockingly dirty, casually funny and earnestly engaged in the socio-politics of his fictive worlds. Part abstract shape blending and part hieroglyphic storytelling, each image is a discrete and tightly designed object of beauty that never loses the forward motion of the best personal cartooning. DeForge continues to prove that he’s the single most innovative and empathetic cartoonist in the past twenty years.

ISBN: 9781770467552
Format: Hardback
Pages: 120
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly Publications
Published: March 11, 2025

“A new release from Michael DeForge should be met with trumpet blasts across the length and breadth of the book world.” —The New York Times

“DeForge’s often hilarious, sometimes cutting satire is made more impactful by the sense he’s driven less by anger than compassion for those trapped in absurd, faltering systems. Not to be missed.” —Library Journal, Starred Review