The Deviant

here we have: So it's well established that James Tynnion IV just does. not. miss. But even so, I was reluctant to dive into a Christmas-themed serial killer tale. Definitely judged the book by its cover(s) there, cause Tynnion weaves a far more emotionally devastating story that you'd expect from a comic with an axe-wielding Santa. Yes, the horrors of the crime arc are sincerely disturbing and well-paced throughout the issues, but the heart of the whole thing is the characters' journeys (yes that's cheesy, allow me it, it's Christmas.)

Michael is a moderately successful comic book creative looking to make an autobiographical graphic novel through the examination of a serial killer's influence on his gay identity. A seemingly unusual narrative framework, but it's slowly revealed just how closely the impacts of the Christmas Killer's actions guided Michael's awakening to his own sexual identity. To better understand this and himself, Michael convinces Randall, the gay man imprisoned for the Christmas Killer's crimes, (despite 30 years of proclaiming his innocence) to meet him for interviews. They strike up an unusual relationship-- not quite friendship, not quite professional-- that becomes critical when a copycat Christmas Killer begins killing again, successfully framing Michael as the culprit.

This is an extremely layered story, proposing many questions about identity, guilt, shame, and self-possession that is gonna hit home for a lot of homosexual readers. Michael's first introduction to the concept of a man sexually desiring another man is via the Christmas murders. The first gay man he is aware of is Randall, killer or not. (Randall is also potentially a pedophile, active or not.) The inherent shame and broader societal disgust at these taboos-- gay desire and murder-- are forever intertwined for him. Violence, in emotion and action, colors it all.

I remember the first lesbian couple I was ever cognizant of was a couple who lived literally across the street from us; my parents never greeted them as they did our other neighbors, and discouraged my siblings and I from going to that house when we traversed the neighborhood to sell candies for school. The first time I heard the word "lesbian" was as a repeated joke in a comedic made-for-tv movie. We only very recently as a society have started to understand the adage "representation matters," and it's mostly used in favor of platforming fictional queer characters. But it's true for real lives, where a lot of us are initially awakened to our own identities through negative interactions or the inheritance of taboos, if not outright moral condemnation. Anyway, I digress a bit.

The Deviant is a heartfelt and devastating queer horror story replete with terrifyingly staged murder scenes, bloody jump-scares, and characters you may just cry real tears for by the end. Tynion can write a scene, my god. The dialogue is worth reading aloud to yourself, it is that good. These characters are so vivid, so alive. And it doesn't need to be enjoyed at Christmas time, but if you read it in December, I bet it does hit a little harder (especially if you're gay, duh.)