Scrublands

Funky, weird and wonderful, Daly´s surprisingly compelling collection is a fever dream of a place, with landmarks reminiscent of both South Africa (Daly´s homeland) and Haight-Ashbury circa 1968—possibly the author´s spiritual home. In this robustly drawn world, drenched in shades of orange and yellow, Daly follow a troupe of Furry Freaks whose daily lives are a series of surreal episodes involving drugs, sex, art and the hypocrisy and cruelty of contemporary culture. In one vignette, a character becomes erotically obsessed with a friend´s art class project, a sculpture of a giant pair of breasts; the climax of the tale comes when the artist receives an "A" for his work´s "savage social commentary"—while the obsessed character attempts to copulate with it.