Big Kids

In Michael DeForge’s surreal 2016 graphic novel Big Kids, the turbulent emotions and shifting social dynamics of adolescence are made bizarrely literal when a troubled teenager named Adam undergoes a strange biological metamorphosis. Following a painful breakup and ongoing family dysfunction, Adam suddenly "transitions" into a "tree"—a profound physiological shift that completely alters his sensory perception, allowing him to see the world and other transformed individuals in hyper-dimensional, abstract shapes, while the untransformed are left looking like flat, simplistic twigs. Using his signature psychedelic, fluid art style and deadpan narrative, DeForge crafts a deeply weird yet poignant metaphor for puberty, queer awakening, and the alienating realization that growing up fundamentally changes how we perceive the universe and connect with the people we once thought we understood.