Review: Crisis Zone – Simon Hanselmann

Title: Crisis Zone (2021)
By: Simon Hanselmann 
Published by: Fantagraphics
Format: Graphic Novel

Four years late to the party—you know how it is, you’ve got kids, dogs, rent, various medical issues, depression, and every month you tell yourself, I’ll buy that. I will. It’s important. It’s biblically important. I need it! And, of course, you never do, do you? Maybe next month…

Well, I finally did. I now own a copy of Crisis Zone by Simon Hanselmann, and I’ve spent the weekend revisiting this masterpiece of deprecation and derangement.

Now, I swore—mainly to my wife, the dog, and perhaps the kids (the only people who even know this blog exists)—that I’d never write about anything I didn’t own. So now that I do, it’s my responsibility to tell you all about it. Even though you most likely already own it. This is peak old-man-ranting-at-the-clouds territory… strap yourself in.

For the uninitiated, Crisis Zone was posted daily (with some exceptions) on Hanselmanns Instagram account from March through December 2020—during the COVID lockdowns— and published in full by Fantagraphics in August, 2021. For me, and millions of others, it became a high point of the day—something to look forward to in an otherwise shapeless blur of time. A real-time comic reflecting the madness of daily events in one of the weirdest periods in modern civilisation.

Anyone familiar with the situation in Germany will know how Draconian the lockdowns were. In a world of general boredom, failed attempts to bake, doomed fitness plans, and endless Zoom calls, Crisis Zone was a genuine breath of fresh air.

The collection follows Hanselmann’s cast of degenerates—Megg, Mogg, Owl, and Werewolf Jones—alongside a whole host of others as they navigate a world flipped upside down. COVID-19 quarantines, the Black Lives Matter movement, riots, Animal Crossing fever, and Tiger King (Anus King here) all unfold in rapid, unhinged succession.

Despite the anarchy of Crisis Zone, Hanselmann keeps the comic visually disciplined. The layout sticks rigidly to a twelve-panel square grid (designed for Instagram slides), and his linework is tight and deliberate. Backgrounds often hold more detail than the foreground characters, who remain minimal unless necessary—like the intricate texturing on Booger’s scales. There’s a clear manga influence in this separation of details but with a distinctly lo-fi sensibility.

Werewolf Jones after killing 38 People

The colouring seems to be exclusively rendered in coloured pencils, but there might be the occasional splash of watercolour or gouache, and definitely some good old-fashioned smudging. That texture adds to the book’s raw, fever-dream quality, making it feel even more alive.

Revisiting the comic after all this time felt like hopping into a time machine—not Werewolf Jones’ fatal Hot Tub Time Machine (38 Dead), but a real one, launching me back to a time most people would rather forget, but for me, a general misanthrope, one that delivers a flood of dopamine.

“13th of March. What the fuck? This don’t look good.”

Megg, Mogg, and Owl on the couch watching the news as the rapidly changing reality dawns. Owl reacts by going on a manic cleaning binge. Mogg sinks into paranoia, obsessive face-washing, and a world of weed and YouTube spirals. Megg, meanwhile, is mostly concerned about her Animal Crossing pre-order, “what if it doesn’t show up?”.

Before long, the house transforms into a chaotic commune. Werewolf Jones, self-proclaimed Anus King, moves in with his two delinquent kids, Diesel and Jaxson. Then come the other ne’er-do-wells: Future fiancé Dracula Jr., thong enthusiast Booger, Mike the Wizard (later Jennifer), and Ian the Bear. Together, they create one of the wildest comic soap operas ever put to paper.

Picking a favourite moment is nearly impossible, but one highlight has to be the newly branded Sodomy Squad—piss-drunk in the autonomous zone, hunting for Dracula Jr., who, in response to the murder of his son Dracula Junior Jr., has kidnapped Werewolf Jones’ son, Jaxson. Shootouts, boat chases, and Owl saving the day in his utterly shite Heisenberg hat… It’s all there. As the storyline grows to include Netflix shooting a documentary, Anus King starring Werewolf Jones, debauchery, cultism, drug abuse, disaster and hilarity are never far away.

The Sodomy Squad in action

Through lockdowns, riots, cancel culture, and rubbish telly, no one but Hanselmann could have captured the insanity of 2020 with such grotesque precision. And what makes it all work is the depth of his characters. As always in Hanselmann’s work, the writing is razor-sharp. Somehow, even the irredeemable Werewolf Jones has moments of insight and empathy, proving that a stopped clock is right twice a day.

I only wish it hadn’t ended.

The book also includes Hanselmann’s director’s commentary, which is a delight. Crisis Zone isn’t just a testament to his talent—it’s the pinnacle of what webcomics can achieve.

If you don’t have a copy, go get one!