VII by Thom: A Little Book With a Big Personality

The Happy Makers

Sep 14

3 min read

I was at the Toronto Comic Book Fair with my hubby and stepdaughter Liz, wandering through all the incredible books, when Liz picked up VII by Thom and immediately started laughing.

She turned to me and said, "It's like Ren & Stimpy."

Well, that got my attention.

I picked up a copy and started looking through it, and within a few pages I was thinking, Yep. I have to have this one.

It's weird, funny, wonderfully expressive and completely wordless.

Written and illustrated by Montreal cartoonist Thom (Thomas Blais-Leblanc), VII is the first book in his Silent Fables series. It won the Réal-Fillion Award for Best Debut in 2018, and after reading it, I can see why.

The story follows Titus Caropin, a bestselling author who is desperately trying to finish the seventh book in his popular series. Unfortunately, he has run completely out of inspiration. Writer's block has taken over, and not even karaoke seems to help.

Then Death shows up.

And Death is a fan.

He doesn't seem particularly interested in claiming Titus just yet. He wants an autograph. And, of course, he would really like a copy of Volume VII.

It's a wonderfully strange setup.

And then it gets stranger.

What I loved about VII is the humour.

The closest comparison I could come up with while reading it was Ren & Stimpy. There is that same wonderfully bizarre, slightly unhinged cartoon energy where you aren't quite sure what is going to happen next. Thom takes a simple idea and keeps pushing it until it becomes completely ridiculous.

But underneath all that silliness there is something surprisingly thoughtful.

This is a story about death, creativity, isolation and the frustration of trying to make something when the ideas just aren't coming. Somehow Thom manages to make those big ideas feel playful rather than heavy.

And then there's Death himself.

He is wonderfully expressive and oddly charming, with that big toothy grin that makes it difficult to decide whether he is terrifying or just really excited to meet his favourite author.

Probably both.

Because there are no words, Thom has to make every gesture count. A look, a movement, a change in expression or the way a character is positioned in a room can completely change the meaning of a scene.

And the pacing is fast.

You fly through the book, but I found myself going back. There are little visual jokes and details that are easy to miss when you're caught up in the story. That's one of the pleasures of a wordless comic. You can read it quickly, then go back and discover what you missed.

It also reminded me how much personality can live in a drawing.

Thom's characters are wonderfully expressive, and his cartooning has a loose, fluid quality that makes the whole book feel alive. There is a real sense of movement, even in the quieter moments.