Big Ugly

A brother and sister move back in together and navigate their complicated relationship through various health, work, and family upsets in Weaver’s atmospheric if elliptical graphic novel debut. Mel has recently been through a difficult break up and struggles to get doctors to take her mysterious physical ailments seriously. She lets younger brother Matt, who has been estranged from their father for three years, move in with her and supports him financially—but not necessarily emotionally—as he pieces his life together after his own romantic setback. Though details of the siblings’ early life are slim, their father is described by his children as a “divide and conquer mastermind.” The plot, such as it is, circles around their ambivalence toward supporting each other as they strive to find their way individually and through family ties. Mel and Matt are drawn as zaftig, Matisse-style figures in scenes that turn grocery store expeditions and car trips into beautiful, bright tapestries. Both the narrative and the visuals evoke Brecht Evans–meets–Eleanor Davis. “Why do you always make me be like this?” Matt says after a sudden outburst aimed at his sister. It’s a line that will ring familiar to anyone who has returned to a knotty family fold. This melancholic, slice-of-life tale reveals the way childhood dynamics reverberate well into adulthood. (June)