By Leo Mancini — Free Pass is the latest graphic novel from British cartoonist Julian Hanshaw. It is about a couple that share a shape-shifting sex robot, and how this arrangement complicates their relationships at work in the days leading up to a major election. This is a story where spoilers matter, so I won’t get too deep into plot. But Free Pass is a book with a lot to say about tech and polarization that will likely draw a wide range of responses from readers.

Let’s start with the art. It’s hard to represent the internet when telling a story visually. This is a problem that movies and TV have struggled with for ages (Unfriended, Crazy Rich Asians). Movies and TV can recreate the visual design of different social networks pretty well; but they seem have a much harder time capturing the culture of online spaces.

Comics don’t have as much of an issue with this. Last year, Everyone Is Tulip and Redroom were able to depict the internet clearly, realistically, and creatively. So, after seeing what those books could do, I was excited to jump into another tech comic and see a new cartoonist tackle this problem.

And Hanshaw tackles it beautifully. He breaks the internet down into the core icons and interactions necessary to his story and doesn’t draw anything else. It reads smoothly and doesn’t distract the reader.

Hanshaw’s cartooning is pretty clever in the offline world as well. There’s a scene where the characters are walking home from a bar and the streetlights turn into little bubbles of color. It’s one of the prettiest depictions of drunkenness in comics. I love it.

The most interesting part of this book to me was its protagonist: Huck, a neurotic content moderator at a fictional tech company and self-described political independent. He feels ostracized by his coworkers and girlfriend who do not share his political views. But, as the story unfolds, the reader starts to see that Huck is a socially stunted misogynist whose ostracization might be justified. The question then becomes: “Is the political climate amplifying Huck’s neurosis? Or is that something Huck tells himself to justify his difficulty connecting with other people?”

I think this is where the book will divide readers. Huck is an example of what I’m going to call the “Rorschach Thing.” What I mean is that Huck’s worldview is presented without any exaggeration. So, while more critical readers might see themselves in Huck and be inspired to change, I suspect that the type of person that Huck is based on will be able to read this book and feel completely validated.

It's a really interesting read because it’s so hard to tell how Hanshaw himself feels about the character. I was surprised that he didn’t come down harder on Huck at the end of the book. (I don’t want to say too much!) Another reviewer called this story “optimistic.” And, while I understand that reading, I’m not sure I agree.

The book is out May 4. Let’s all read it and argue.

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: FREE PASS by Julian Hanshaw

Free Pass
Writer/Artist: Julian Hanshaw
Publisher: Top Shelf Productions - IDW Publishing
Huck and Nadia are enjoying their twenties: working in Big Tech and developing an adventurous sex life. Together they fantasize about opening their relationship with a "free pass" to sleep with certain friends or celebrities. It's all in good fun.
But Huck is leading a double life. As a national election looms, he grows more and more uncomfortable with his company's unelected authority over internet discourse.
When the couple receives a bizarre gift -a cutting-edge humanoid sex AI that can morph into anyone -their worlds of fantasy, trust, and consent are thrown into blissful chaos.
In a society growing more divided each day, Huck struggles with the pressure to uphold boundaries at work... while everything is collapsing at home.
Julian Hanshaw follows his acclaimed graphic novels Tim Ginger and Cloud Hotel with an intoxicating new tale of liberty, privacy, and shame, set in the sticky place where sex, politics, and technology come together.
Price: $19.99
Release Date: May 4, 2022
Pre-Order It: Digital / Physical

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Leo is a cartoonist from Chicago who reads chaotic, grungy indie comics. You can find him on the internet as @leomakecomic. If have something for him to read, send it to leomakecomic@gmail.com