By Essa Rasheed
Cyclopedia Exotica, a graphic novel written and illustrated by Punjabi Canadian artist Aminder Dhaliwal and colored by Nikolas Ilic, takes place in a world where cyclopes from ancient mythology are real and have been coexisting as a disenfranchised minority group amongst humans, or, as the novel calls them, “Two-eyes.” The metaphor for race relations is unmistakable and immediate, but it’s interesting just how Dhaliwal alludes to that in a way that highlights a shared reality of being unseen. The metaphor is broad reaching with its parallels, going beyond any one specific allegory. For example, “Cosmetic-eye treatment,” a surgery giving cyclopes two eyes, works as a rough stand-in for double eyelid surgery, a procedure most popular amongst East and South East Asians that constructs the artificial epicanthal folds common amongst white people. The procedure, which supposedly makes eyes appear larger and rounder, is often critiqued for being a product of eurocentric beauty standards. At the same time, the graphic novel discusses “inter-species” discrimination in medicine, which leads to a higher mortality rate for pregnant cyclopes, directly paralleling the horrifying medical discrimination pregnant Black women face. What’s left is not the historical trauma and real world struggles of a specific marginalized group, but a general sense of otherness and disenfranchisement, how it is to feel small and voiceless in a world created by and for your oppressors.
The book offers sharp and witty insights into the realities of representation in media, interracial realtionships, self hatred, and so much more. It’s easy to poorly execute a fantastical work with strong social parallels (look no further than Netflix’s Bright), so it’s refreshing that Cyclopedia Exotica takes full advantage of the premise to provide introspective satire with intelligence, humor, and heart.
Cyclopedia Exotica is dedicated to “those who don’t feel seen,” and it delivers on the dialogues of representation, dehumanization, fetishization, and exoticism implied in that dedication. The idea of the societal gaze is central to the work. The book starts off with an encyclopedia entry on cyclopes but is quickly interrupted by a character who directly addresses the reader, stating “What a dull way to learn about a minority.” That moment summarizes the work’s central approach to representation—that to understand the complexity of a minority we need to know them, not just in an academic sense, but in a human one, seeing their values, struggles, and aspirations.
The book follows the interconnected lives of different cyclopes living in the same city. These narratives are told in mostly self-contained slice-of-life segments that usually end with a punchline, reminiscent of newspaper cartoon strips. Though I could imagine criticism using such a structure to be inherently light and inconsequential, especially considering the heady topics the work tackles, I found it extremely charming, energetic, and engaging. In all of these slices-of-life segments, the social climate surrounding Cyclopes and Two-eyes relations is an immovable part of the environment, but the narrative is focused more on the characters themselves as they date, fall in love, begin families, look for housing, grow their careers, engage with media, discuss their problems, and just live their lives. The structure presents the topic of racism in a way that I found accurately expresses its systemic and societal nature. The focus is less on how specific individuals and events are a manifestation of racism, but rather on how racism impacts every facet of one’s everyday life. Characters aren’t defined by their struggles against discrimination, but by how often discrimination defines the way they are seen, or, more often, not seen.
Additionally, this being an ensemble work rather than having a single main character allows the work to explore different facets of racism with each character and to examine how it intersects with queerness, sexism, and capitalism. The many characters include a pregnant cyclops in an interracial relationship navigating her pregnancy and absence from work, a pretentious artist duo who makes work about racial identity, an insecure male cyclops whose botched cosmetic-eye treatment left him disabled, and so many more. The way these characters drift in and out of each other’s lives and give each other advice and support illustrates what it’s like to be a part of a community in a place where you’re a minority. There’s a real palpability to the relationships the characters have with one another, their interactions feel immediately relatable, and that’s mostly due to just how well each of them is written. Each character feels well-realized with distinct believable personalities and desires, and are at the same time part of a larger tapestry of community in their city. I fully felt myself rooting for them to achieve what they wanted out of life, and genuinely heartbroken in the instances where they weren’t able to achieve their goals.
This being a graphic novel, I’d also be remiss not to talk about the illustration, which is beautifully and expertly drawn. Dhaliwal ’s experience in TV animation is apparent; there’s an energy and efficiency to the book that feels reminiscent of a great cartoon, with the illustration conveying emotions, personality, and humor in a way words alone never can, and done with a simplicity that expertly utilizes the full potential of each page. There is a general sense of appeal to the character designs that makes it easy to feel what they feel and fully identify with them.
Cyclopedia Exotica is a brilliantly- written, absolute treat of a book. It’s a light and approachable work that’s more funny than anything else, which makes it easy to recommend it to just about anyone. It’s also deep and profound, grappling with themes more “serious” works wouldn’t dare touch and doing so in an intelligent and engaging way. After I finished it, I genuinely felt as though I had spent time with these characters and existed in a community into which I belonged. Moreso, I left this book more reflective of the way I saw myself as a minority and how the society around me has sculpted and continues to reinforce that gaze, and also how the terrific friends and communities I’ve been lucky enough to know have sculpted that as well.
Cyclopedia Exotica is available from Barnes & Noble, Book Cellar, Green Apple Books, Skylight Books, and Strand Book Store.
Essa Rasheed is a Pakistani American animator and illustrator from Corona, California. Rasheed graduated from the University of California, Irvine with B.A.s in English and film and media studies. He was previously a food writer for The Bloomsday Review.