Shady

Shady has just one goal in life: to get attention. That’s the same, after all, as love and recognition. Both narcissistic and subject to crippling insecurity, Shady lives a life full of drama. But the followers and the likes do not come, and he remains lonely and isolated, longing to be noticed. Fortunately a fairy has been tasked with saving a lost soul. Her eye falls on Shady. The only problem is that he needs to be the one to ask for help. Can Shady ever achieve self-awareness?

In ‘Shady’ Brecht Vandenbroucke interweaves the one-page gags of ‘Shady B*tch’ with chapters about the attempts by fairy Iris to save Shady. Selfie culture, with all its perversions, is just one of the many things Vandenbroucke pokes fun at, sometimes bitingly, sometimes by means of slapstick. In his unique style, he creates a universe all his own: colourful, absurd, and packed with references to popular culture and social trends. Vandenbroucke's pictures sometimes occupy a double page, so he can really go to town. ‘Shady’ is a merciless examination of our cultural and human depravities, and a real feast for the eye.