Reviews Webcomic / Vegan Artbook

Shameless Propaganda

What hasn't been said already?

I'll start off with a bit of full disclosure. I'm an omnivore, which, in the eyes of the author, makes me a terrible person. This is not an exaggeration, as Vegan Artbook's strips condemn those who consume animal products (not just meat, but also dairy products, eggs, etc.) as furthering the oppression of animals for no good reason other than that they taste good.

The series features comics featuring the vegans engaging in arguments with their "carnist" straw man opposition, who, against all odds, often come off as the more reasonable and sympathetic faction. While there isn't any overarching plot or even genuine humor (apart from what's at the carnists' expense), this is actually preferable to the alternative- heavy-handed and emotionally manipulative propaganda pictures that equate the meat industry to genocide, trivializing horrific tragedies for the sake of making a point. There are also more than a few factual inaccuracies- see the webcomic's Critical Research Failure page for more. While I generally don't consider TV Tropes examples to be proof of much, the fact that the comic racked up enough research errs to warrant its own page is quite a feat.

The art is fairly good, although since I can't draw, my standards are fairly low. That said, it also serves the purpose of demonizing the opposition by making them noticeably uglier than the protagonists.

Unfortunately, while Vegan Artbook is a failure in almost every way apart from expressing the rantings of an overzealous and self-righteous vegan, it isn't even an entertaining failure. In addition to the various misconceptions it expresses, the strip also urges readers not to show omnivores any respect for their lifestyle, saying they are no more worthy of it than those who persecute others, and thus showing that the author perhaps has more in common with those hateful individuals than she thought. The author obviously has no interest in a rational discourse- only in seeing those who disagree with her forced to conform to her ways.

In conclusion, there is no reason for you to read Vegan Artbook unless you happen to share the author's views, in which case you're more likely to need a reality check.