Review by Karl Verhoven

Human Remains is a definitive post-covid graphic novel, but Peter Milligan’s isn’t a writer to take the most obvious, and possibly banal route of disease sweeping the world. Instead he uses the standbys of horror fiction for a very human drama.

A sinister opening page shows a government poster stapled to a telegraph pole warning people to repress strong emotions, specifying fear, anger, love, lust and humour. It’s only two pages later that the consequences of not doing so are shown. An angry man shouts in the middle of the street “I am human! I have feelings! Big, chaotic and impossible to contain feelings”. Just as whoever felt fear burned at the Man-Thing’s touch, whoever manifests feelings causes a portal to open in front of them from which a skeletal beast with slashing sharp limbs emerges and proceeds to slice people to pieces. Similar scenes are frequent, and being indoors is no protection. It’s intended to horrify, and does.

That, however is just the starting point for what’s consistently been Milligan’s greatest writing strength of unpredictable human drama. How do people cope if they can’t resort to feelings that occur every day, whether acted on or not? He places around half a dozen people under the microscope, covering a broad base of careers and class. Naturally enough, those with psychopathic tendencies are wired to survive under the new reality, but everyone else despairs. What does it mean to be human when the prevailing reality has undergone such a massive shift?

Sally Cantirino’s people exist in a state between figurative realism and cartooning, which is a strong visual metaphor for what they’re experiencing. There are some heads strangely placed on bodies, but the style is consistent throughout, and she brings people to life while managing to apply a subtle touch to scenes of incredible violence. There’s a lot of red colouring, but this isn’t an explicitly drawn procedure. A strong design is needed for the alien presence, and Cantirino’s is excellent, supplying creatures seemingly constructed from bone and cartilage, and by gluing together recognisable skeletal parts from several creatures. It’s very effective.

A diverse cast with differing values and emotional responses ensures a broad range of reactions to the new state of life, although in microcosm. Were something similar to occur in reality it would place religion in crisis, and representing this by the single hypocritical preacher is taking the easy option, and he’s the weakest character. Otherwise, how the members of the cast connect and how those connections influence their directions is constantly well judged. They’re broadly sympathetic, and even when that’s not the case, their motivations make sense.

It’s eventually apparent that Milligan follows the covid cycle, but applies his own observations to the process and effect. He’s been a first rate dramatist since the 1990s, and no-one who’s enjoyed the best of his earlier work will be disappointed with Human Remains.