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A review by jbeoin
Let Me Out by Emmett Nahil, George Williams
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
CONTENT NOTE: Discrimination against queer characters, transphobia including the use of deadnames, misgendering, slurs, gore, violence, dead bodies, ableist language, involuntary restraint, torture, police, and state-sponsored abduction and murder
Let Me Out is a great queer twist on the nostalgia for the "simpler times" of the 70's and 80's trending so often these days. It has wonderfully expressive art and a devilish story set in the backdrop of a small town content to allow evil until it happens to "one of their own"-- and then there is hell to pay for the local group of queer and racialized teen punks who will stop at nothing to protect one another.
What Worked for Me:
✦ Ugh, I can't even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed the art in this!! I kept looking at it so much that I would forget to keep reading at points lol. I loved so much about George Williams' style: his textured brush use, his colors and light, his fun style, and his facial expressions all brought me so much joy.
✦ Williams' colors in particular were helpful in establishing so much of the mood and setting for each scene. The use of red throughout in places it wouldn't normally be seen was great for building an ongoing sense of uneasiness and reminding the reader that something dangerous looms close by, even if you can't see it yet.
✦ I really loved the relationships Emmett Nahil created with the main group of friends. It had a great dynamic that felt well-worn and familiar. I immediately felt drawn into their group and loved how they took care of another and looked out for each other. Nahil also made it easy to understand the nature of their circumstances as individuals and as a group throughout without having to outright state the issues, which I thought was great writing.
✦ Nahil also did an excellent job portraying the way white supremacy, cisheteronormativity, and Christian nationalism seeps into every aspect of a small town life and using anyone who is even remotely queer as a target for distracting from their own misdeeds. The 1979 New Jersey of this comic and the late 90's/early 2000's southeast United States I grew up in aren't terribly different, and the desire of those in the majority to scapegoat and dispose of those they deem violent for being different is all too familiar both in my memories and, unfortunately, to this day.
✦ I loved Williams' way with the speech balloons, too! I really like the look of balloons without lines around them (which isn't always easy to make work in a comic), and I felt that Williams did a great job overall differentiating the balloons from the background so that it was still easy to read.
✦ I also really enjoyed the dialogue, especially with the main group of friends. It felt easy and flowed naturally, and there was great distinction in voice between the differing groups: queer and punk, parents, law enforcement, the church officials, the devil, and so on. It really helped emphasize the dynamics of opposition with the queer kids against the world.
✦ The character designs were excellent. I enjoyed the diversity of body types in the main cast, as well as the queer punk teen/young adult aesthetic Williams gave the characters. It felt very organic to the individual characters and the group as a whole.
✦ I loved how Nahil gave us a look at the rage of the friends as well as the care for each other in response to the violence they're forced to put up with. There were complexities and nuance to the responses that did and didn't happen, and we always got to see this push and pull between allowing themselves to act upon their anger and not. The angry reactions were validated by the others while also grounded in the reality of not being safe from the consequences of their response the same way their white, cishet peers were from the violence they enacted on the queer, racialized kids. And regardless of how the others felt in response to their friends reactions, they always took care of one another and kept each other as safe as they could.
✦ I enjoyed how Nahil and Williams' work came together to build suspense throughout the story. The tension and worry of the scapegoating narrative combined with the colors and expressions of the art really worked well together.
What Didn't Work for Me:
✦ I really hated the reliance on ableist language throughout the script. Using slurs throughout a book about scapegoating disempowered people in particular really bothers me. I think writers are incredibly creative people, and I know they can make more creative choices than relying on slurs. I honestly think I would have enjoyed this book more if I didn't have to read so many iterations of d*mb, st*pid, and imb*c*le throughout.
✦ There were a few times in the story that I became confused and wasn't sure what was happening or felt that something wasn't followed through on enough. I think they needed just a page or two more to give us more information and context to better understand what was going on.
For example, there was a single page that seems to be indicating a flashback in the middle of an irrelevant scene, but there's no indication about that. It was extra confusing because it seemed to involve a character we knew to be dead. It wasn't until I was reviewing and looking at this page over and over again that I finally began to puzzle it out. Its placement in the storyline just didn't make sense and could've been a lot stronger in a different place in the story.
✦ The ending of the story didn't completely fulfill its promises for me. It felt a bit rushed and not entirely clear. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll be vague here, but it felt a bit forced to me when the big moments began happening. I didn't understand the connection between the [spoiler] and the kids and why it was necessary in the first place. I would have appreciated a bit more information to get it more.
✦ I also felt the explanation between the bad actors throughout the story and the [spoiler] weren't explained enough for me, too. I needed more information about what was happening, why, and how it came to be.
✦ Related to that, I felt the relationship between the cop and the federal agent could have benefitted from a little more clarity. At the beginning, it felt more like an equal footing situation, but it later was revealed to be one where the cop was directly reporting to the federal agents. Perhaps that was the case the whole time or perhaps it evolved into that, but I think if the reasoning for the actions of the villains in this book had been a bit clearer, it would have been a little easier to understand the dynamics between more of the characters in the story.
Overall
I give Let Me Out 3.5 out of 5 speech bubbles, rounding up to 4: This was a good queer horror story with some great characters and an interesting plot! It has some flaws, but I think it's great for a queer Halloween read or anytime of the year for horror lovers.
How to Read It
Interested in checking it out for yourself? Here are a few ways you can get your hands on a copy!
Local Options
Your Local Library!
Your Local Comic Book Shop!
Your Local Book Store!
Small + Indie Options
Bluestockings Cooperative
Bookshop
Midtown Comics
Big + Boxy Options
Barnes & Noble
Books a Million
Kinokuniya
Read This Next
If you liked this, check out Darlin’ and Her Other Names – Part 1: Marta, Squad, and Something Is Killing the Children TP Volume 1
If you enjoyed this review, I have a monthly comic review series called More Comics Please! on my website with interior page excerpts and additional information not shared here on Storygraph. You can sign up to receive them in your inbox by subscribing to my newsletter Into the Bramble.
Let Me Out is a great queer twist on the nostalgia for the "simpler times" of the 70's and 80's trending so often these days. It has wonderfully expressive art and a devilish story set in the backdrop of a small town content to allow evil until it happens to "one of their own"-- and then there is hell to pay for the local group of queer and racialized teen punks who will stop at nothing to protect one another.
What Worked for Me:
✦ Ugh, I can't even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed the art in this!! I kept looking at it so much that I would forget to keep reading at points lol. I loved so much about George Williams' style: his textured brush use, his colors and light, his fun style, and his facial expressions all brought me so much joy.
✦ Williams' colors in particular were helpful in establishing so much of the mood and setting for each scene. The use of red throughout in places it wouldn't normally be seen was great for building an ongoing sense of uneasiness and reminding the reader that something dangerous looms close by, even if you can't see it yet.
✦ I really loved the relationships Emmett Nahil created with the main group of friends. It had a great dynamic that felt well-worn and familiar. I immediately felt drawn into their group and loved how they took care of another and looked out for each other. Nahil also made it easy to understand the nature of their circumstances as individuals and as a group throughout without having to outright state the issues, which I thought was great writing.
✦ Nahil also did an excellent job portraying the way white supremacy, cisheteronormativity, and Christian nationalism seeps into every aspect of a small town life and using anyone who is even remotely queer as a target for distracting from their own misdeeds. The 1979 New Jersey of this comic and the late 90's/early 2000's southeast United States I grew up in aren't terribly different, and the desire of those in the majority to scapegoat and dispose of those they deem violent for being different is all too familiar both in my memories and, unfortunately, to this day.
✦ I loved Williams' way with the speech balloons, too! I really like the look of balloons without lines around them (which isn't always easy to make work in a comic), and I felt that Williams did a great job overall differentiating the balloons from the background so that it was still easy to read.
✦ I also really enjoyed the dialogue, especially with the main group of friends. It felt easy and flowed naturally, and there was great distinction in voice between the differing groups: queer and punk, parents, law enforcement, the church officials, the devil, and so on. It really helped emphasize the dynamics of opposition with the queer kids against the world.
✦ The character designs were excellent. I enjoyed the diversity of body types in the main cast, as well as the queer punk teen/young adult aesthetic Williams gave the characters. It felt very organic to the individual characters and the group as a whole.
✦ I loved how Nahil gave us a look at the rage of the friends as well as the care for each other in response to the violence they're forced to put up with. There were complexities and nuance to the responses that did and didn't happen, and we always got to see this push and pull between allowing themselves to act upon their anger and not. The angry reactions were validated by the others while also grounded in the reality of not being safe from the consequences of their response the same way their white, cishet peers were from the violence they enacted on the queer, racialized kids. And regardless of how the others felt in response to their friends reactions, they always took care of one another and kept each other as safe as they could.
✦ I enjoyed how Nahil and Williams' work came together to build suspense throughout the story. The tension and worry of the scapegoating narrative combined with the colors and expressions of the art really worked well together.
What Didn't Work for Me:
✦ I really hated the reliance on ableist language throughout the script. Using slurs throughout a book about scapegoating disempowered people in particular really bothers me. I think writers are incredibly creative people, and I know they can make more creative choices than relying on slurs. I honestly think I would have enjoyed this book more if I didn't have to read so many iterations of d*mb, st*pid, and imb*c*le throughout.
✦ There were a few times in the story that I became confused and wasn't sure what was happening or felt that something wasn't followed through on enough. I think they needed just a page or two more to give us more information and context to better understand what was going on.
For example, there was a single page that seems to be indicating a flashback in the middle of an irrelevant scene, but there's no indication about that. It was extra confusing because it seemed to involve a character we knew to be dead. It wasn't until I was reviewing and looking at this page over and over again that I finally began to puzzle it out. Its placement in the storyline just didn't make sense and could've been a lot stronger in a different place in the story.
✦ The ending of the story didn't completely fulfill its promises for me. It felt a bit rushed and not entirely clear. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll be vague here, but it felt a bit forced to me when the big moments began happening. I didn't understand the connection between the [spoiler] and the kids and why it was necessary in the first place. I would have appreciated a bit more information to get it more.
✦ I also felt the explanation between the bad actors throughout the story and the [spoiler] weren't explained enough for me, too. I needed more information about what was happening, why, and how it came to be.
✦ Related to that, I felt the relationship between the cop and the federal agent could have benefitted from a little more clarity. At the beginning, it felt more like an equal footing situation, but it later was revealed to be one where the cop was directly reporting to the federal agents. Perhaps that was the case the whole time or perhaps it evolved into that, but I think if the reasoning for the actions of the villains in this book had been a bit clearer, it would have been a little easier to understand the dynamics between more of the characters in the story.
Overall
I give Let Me Out 3.5 out of 5 speech bubbles, rounding up to 4: This was a good queer horror story with some great characters and an interesting plot! It has some flaws, but I think it's great for a queer Halloween read or anytime of the year for horror lovers.
How to Read It
Interested in checking it out for yourself? Here are a few ways you can get your hands on a copy!
Local Options
Your Local Library!
Your Local Comic Book Shop!
Your Local Book Store!
Small + Indie Options
Bluestockings Cooperative
Bookshop
Midtown Comics
Big + Boxy Options
Barnes & Noble
Books a Million
Kinokuniya
Read This Next
If you liked this, check out Darlin’ and Her Other Names – Part 1: Marta, Squad, and Something Is Killing the Children TP Volume 1
If you enjoyed this review, I have a monthly comic review series called More Comics Please! on my website with interior page excerpts and additional information not shared here on Storygraph. You can sign up to receive them in your inbox by subscribing to my newsletter Into the Bramble.