Preview: The Cutest Horror Of A Girl And Her Dog – Nicole Goux’s ‘Pet Peeves’

by Richard Bruton

Brilliant debut solo graphic novel from Eisner-nominated author Nicole Goux – a young musician’s life’s going nowhere fast but at least she’s got her newfound doggo, it’s not like it’s his fault it’s all going wrong… is it?

Hopefully, I’ll get time to go more in-depth with this one, as it’s well worth taking a bit of a longer look. But I also wanted to get something out for sure before it’s published on 25th May by Avery Hill, so that you can hear and see just how impressive Pet Peeves is.

It’s the first solo graphic novel by Nicole Goux, whose name you may well have seen on books from DC, Simon and Schuster, and Dark Horse. But as good as her previous work was, this really is a level above.

Here’s the Avery Hill PR for Pet Peeves…

“In this horror graphic novel, the new dog that aspiring musician Bobbie has adopted is cute, but also stealing her life.

Bobbie’s life is going nowhere fast. She’s working at a bar, wanting to play music but never having the time or energy. The only bright spot is her dog – always cheerful, always cuddly, and always there for her.

As the relentless day-in, day-out of work piles up, music and roommates and social plans begin to seem less and less important as Bobbie struggles to make rent and have any time to be creative. The only thing she has time for outside her job is her dog . . . and her dog is going to do everything he can to keep it that way.”

It plays up the horror element in the PR, but honestly, it’s far cleverer than that.

Far, far cleverer.

This isn’t some evil beast doing hideous, nightmarish things to single-handedly destroy Bobbi’s life. (Well, not quite. Or maybe it is. Well, read it, you’ll get what I mean dammit.)

No, the way Goux plays it out is way better than some monster attacks thing. It’s all about Bobbi’s life and the way some 20-somethings manage to grow up and leave college behind them and the way others (Bobbi) just don’t. It’s funny and it’s real and it’s sweet and it’s cute (just like Barclay, her newfound stray dog) until it’s really not all those things (yep, again, just a bit like Barclay).

It’s full of wonderful storytelling and character building, deliciously rendered in black, white, and red in Goux’s warm and welcoming style.

Like I say, I’ll definitely put this on the one to come back to and go into way more detail, but for now let’s just leave it as this one’s a definite to buy, a brilliant first graphic novel from a real talent.