Climbing Out by Brian Ralph is a cute and deceptively simple story. A humanoid creature resembling a monkey questions what’s expected of him and what he’s always accepted about his world. The deeper points of the fable show through the unpretentious art style. There is little establishing background information about the primitive protagonist’s civilization, but details are slipped in throughout the story when needed, such as the types of cooking utensils and sleeping arrangements in the creature’s home. Although Ralph’s drawings are straightforward, I found myself noticing every minor detail like an archaologist looking at an ancient civilization hunting for clues to discover how the people lived. Understatement works well in this thoughtful comic.
