Review: Meat Eaters Is Probably Going To Be Your Favorite Comic … Or At Least Come Close

Welcome to the table,

Every so often, a comic comes along that so fundamentally fits into exactly what I’m looking for that I can’t imagine a reality where it was not part of my library and the lexicon of works that I reference. Meredith McClaren‘s Meat Eaters is one of those books. Let’s get into it.

The tale takes place in the small town of Twill, where 19-year-old Ashley Moore has found herself covered in blood and lacking a heartbeat. After conducting a slew of tests that feel way more natural than what typically is depicted in the story of young adults dealing with the supernatural, Ashley self-diagnoses that she must be a Zombie.

She is, of course, not a zombie, as zombies do not typically possess critical thinking skills. To get to that diagnosis, Ashley did everything from trying to eat all manner of food, to taking her temperature a worrying amount of times, to holding herself under water in her bathtub until realizing that breathing was no longer something her body found itself concerned with.

All of this frankly worrying behavior is merely in tone, but somehow elevated to a charming degree that verges on being downright adorable thanks to the brilliant art styles Meredith brings to the table.

There is something I’m always chasing. It’s this feeling that comes during a sudden, all-consuming rain storm, or the way it feels when the bass, through concert venue speakers, pulses in a way that shakes your very bones. That kind of cocoon-like warmth that comes with the perfectly pulled espresso or that peace you can only find when you force yourself to take a break, throw caution to the wind, and go on an adventure to a place you have never been just to taste a menu item.

That is the feeling Meredith’s art gives me.

If the nature of art is to make you feel something, then she nails it page after page. There is something profoundly unsettling about that level of skill being used to tell a story about flesh-eating and supernatural young adults that also makes you feel so comfortable and drawn into each panel. The only thing I can liken it to is the way vampires are depicted within modern mythology and folklore, something so stunningly compelling yet also thick with danger and dread.

As the story progresses, Ashley finds herself drawn into a small, hidden community within the town where she is befriended by the sage-like Bess, and two of the most adorably unhinged werewolves you could ever encounter, who go by the names Motley and Harrison.

I adore them, not because they are cute and lovable, but because they feel so authentic in their coming-of-age arcs. Motley wrestles with feelings that all the things you are “supposed” to love — the taste of junky beer, the chaos of house parties — are somehow not these enjoyable experiences that TV tells her they are supposed to be.

It could be a projection, but the level of social commentary so brilliantly crafted into this story of shape-shifting fuzzballs is a thing of true wonder.

Eventually, our girl, Ashley, concludes that she is a ghoul — not a vampire, not a zombie, and not one of the seemingly larger webwork of supernaturals that dance along the laces of reality in this story’s world. Even though Ashley is a ghoul, she is still the butt of a multitude of jokes referring to her as a zombie, something that just makes this whole story feel even more lived in.

Meat Eaters takes some really compelling twists and turns, and there are some very natural conversations that bring people together, pull them apart, and bring them together again. In a story where, at one point, our protagonist fights a massive werewolf with a gender reveal popper she bought off Amazon, there is still this deeply emotional thing unfolding while a mystery of what’s randomly killing people in the woods. It’s just fascinating.

Meat Eaters is a perfect story. I don’t say that lightly. The blending of brilliant art, social commentary, charming characters, and brutal body horror is done in such a way that it comes together into something both heartwarming and horrifying.

The falling action of what I hope is going to be the beginning of many more stories in this setting feels like the most authentic single-sided conversation I have ever read. This includes comics, novels, anthologies, and everything in between. I was a kid who ate personal pan pizzas on the regular because I read so much … and I can tell you that the impact the last bit of this story had on me is as life-changing as seeing a shooting star for the first time or tasting a really amazing batch of chocolate chip cookies.

Until next time, go read Meat Eaters. I don’t know if you will love it as much as I do, but if you come even remotely close, this is probably going to be one of your favorite books of all time. I am unquestionably giving it a 10/10.