Blurry
Dash Shaw
New York Review Comics, 2024

The title of this graphic novel is Blurry, while the back cover is headlined with the phrase “in doubt.” “Undecided” would also describe the story’s emotional tone, but I suppose either choice would be too much on the nose. The plot points are mundane on their face: a woman can’t choose between two ice cream flavors; a man can’t decide between two dress shirts for a wedding; a woman questions the style of her new glasses; a figure-drawing model considers quitting modeling; and a man drives into a fog bank and is unsure how to get home. The last is an event that genuinely was blurry, and it captures the tone of the book very well.

So these everyday doubts are presented as serious cliffhangers, each with the potential to alter a life’s direction. The magic in the narrative comes from the way Shaw gradually intertwines the lives of this disparate group of characters, continually shifting the focus from one character to another. The man buying the dress shirts is helped by the store’s manager, who turns out to be the woman having difficulties with the style of her glasses.

A woman on a Brazilian trip alone after breaking up with her boyfriend has trouble deciding what to do. Then, she meets a fellow American, a successful author who tells her own story of self-doubt (which includes further connections with the fellow tourist–these characters have a habit of meeting each other). After quitting modeling, the model meets the woman with the glasses. And in the final scene practically everyone comes together at a wedding (which was the trigger for the dress shirt purchase that opened the story).

Shaw employs his usual sketchy style: light in backgrounds, but heavy in characterization. There are ten major characters, and a helpful character gallery is included in the book’s endpapers. It can still occasionally be difficult to follow which character is being featured in the narrative, especially the three brunette women. I found all the indecision hard to take sometimes, but your mileage may vary.