Synopses & Reviews
Megg is a depressed, drug-addicted witch. Mogg is her black cat. Their friend, Owl, is an anthropomorphized owl. They hang out a lot with Werewolf Jones. This may sound like a pure stoner comedy, but it transcends the genre: these characters struggle unsuccessfully to come to grips with their depression, drug use, sexuality, poverty, lack of work, lack of ambition, and their complex feelings about each other in ways that have made Megg and Mogg sensations on Hanselmann's GirlMountain tumblr. This is the first collection of Hanselmann's work, freed from its cumbersome Internet prison, and sure to be one of the most talked about graphic novels of 2014, featuring all of the "classic" Megg and Mogg episodes from the past five years as well as over 70 pages of all-new material.
Review
"Simon Hanselmann is the real deal, for sure. He captures that stoner stay-at-home life so accurately that I actually find his comics really depressing and thank god I don't ever have to hang out with anybody like that ever again." Daniel Clowes
Review
"Every page is beautiful. Every joke is funny. Every character is a complete asshole." Nick Gazin
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"Megg and Mogg are unforgettable leads, and Owl and Jones are the perfect foils, and Hanselmann's art pops off the page thanks to his gorgeous use of colour. Hanselmann is a consummate artist and writer." Vice
Review
"The story is depressing as often as it is funny, a cautionary tale that's at its best when Hanselmann spreads his writing wings, extending beyond a gag strip into an honest exploration of his deeply flawed leads." Lee Henderson (The Road Narrows as You Go) The Globe and Mail
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"...[T]he overall experience of is a complex one, far more complex than I first thought. There's a real power in Hanselmann's book..." Publishers Weekly
Review
"...Megg's depression isn't your garden-variety Prozac episode. She's so invariably and subtly disconsolate and experiences such disturbing mood swings that it's impossible not to feel at least a tinge of that heavy sadness. And because the book is funny, too -- they smoke lots of pot -- her depression seems that much more real." Hillary Brown Paste
Review
"Megahex... is an existential stoner tale that is part Furry Freak Brothers, part Beavis and Butt-Head, and part Jean Paul Sartre (with some Jackass thrown in for good measure).... It would be easy to dismiss Megahex as another stoner comic. But there's so much lurking beneath the seemingly superficial surfaces -- questions about friendship, loyalty, love, drug addiction, sexual identity, and hopelessness. There are plenty of hysterical Darwin Award-worthy situations in Megahex, but that's not likely to be your takeaway. And what you'll leave with is far scarier than any spook house frights; the fear of looking deeply at yourself in the mirror and finding a monster (or nothing) in your place." Nicole Rudick The Paris Review
Review
"Featuring old-school underground comix, but with the style and serial nature of even older-school Sunday newspaper comics strips, Megahex is the sort of comic that could only gestate on the Internet, and only find final, full expression in book form from a publisher like Fantagraphics. [Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]" Gareth Branwyn Boing Boing
Review
"The best way to describe these comics to anyone who hasn't read them is simply to say they feel complete, with everything precisely in its right place, as if Hanselmann's tiny panels really were just little windows into a strange universe of post-college weirdos, slackers, and psychotics who just happen to be talking animals. ... Buy this because it deserves to sell a million copies." Robert Kirby The Comics Journal
Review
"Profane though it is, the narrative of three 20-something roommates casually tormenting each other mixes an intelligent understanding of depression and anhedonia with its crudeness." Tim O'Neil The A.V. Club
Review
"Every time Megahex seems so self-aware and so cool, to exhale so loudly and profoundly at the banality of it all, it will inhale so deeply and fully that you can't help but fill your own lungs along with it. ... What is the genius of Simon Hanselmann? His precise and natural sense of comedic timing? The food colouring he paints with? His turns of affection and sadism for his characters? What is the magic that he weaves?" Leonie Brialey
Review
"[Megahex] is the cruelest kind of laugh-out-loud funny. ... There's a sadness that pervades the whole book... but it builds a world of hilarious, odd, and sometimes downright mean moments that makes these characters feel real enough to be wholly entertaining." The Lifted Brow
Review
"[Megahex] adds up to a definitely non-heteronormative and often hilarious, and sometimes touching, reading experience." Gene Ambaum Unshelved
Synopsis
This is a stoner-comedy webcomic collection; it's about a witch, her cat and an owl.
About the Author
Simon Hanselmann is a New York Times best-selling author who was born in Tasmania in 1981. He has contributed comics and illustrations to the Believer and Pitchfork, among other publications. He lives in Australia and on girlmountain.tumblr.com.