In My Darkest Hour is a
mystery.  It is so mysterious it is hard to work out what it is about at all. 
The most interesting thing about it is the artwork, which has a strongly
distorted feeling combined with a photographic realism.  Santiago includes some
photographs on some pages, and it seems that he also lets photography guide
some of his drawing.  There’s also a great deal of variation in drawing style
through the book.  Some pictures show everyday scenes of living and talking,
while others show sexual obsession and violence.  It is all in subdued colors
and clearly the work is despairing and anxious in its tone.  There is plenty of
text and handwritten notes in the art, and the words are also depicted in a
variety of styles, from typed to scrawled.  One of the characters seems to have
a serious mental illness, and he seems to be some real anger, anxiety and an obsessional
nature.  At the end of the book, it takes a political anti-war turn.  The art
is strong and even innovative, but the plot is probably rather obscure for most
readers.  There is a summary of the plot at Amazon.com but I didn’t find that
it helped me understand what was going on from page to page. 

Link: http://www.fantagraphics.com

© 2005 Christian
Perring. All rights reserved. 

Christian
Perring, Ph.D., is Academic Chair of the Arts & Humanities
Division and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Dowling College, Long Island.
He is also editor of Metapsychology Online Review.  His main
research is on philosophical issues in medicine, psychiatry and psychology.

Categories: ArtAndPhotography