Self Esteem and The End of the World
Written and Art by Luke Healy
Published by Drawn & Quarterly
Release date: May 23rd, 2024
When I saw Luke Healy‘s Self-Esteem and The End of the World among the graphic novels waiting to be reviewed, I immediately wanted to have a go at it. Truthfully, it was my first time hearing Healy’s name, let alone reading any of his previous work, but the title was striking and witty. Add my curiosity in the topic of self-esteem, our sense of self, and the distorted lenses we view ourselves through to the simple cover of Healy looking at many Healys, and you’ve got a book that piques my interest!
In Self-Esteem and The End of the World, our main character is the fictitious Luke Healy. He’s worked as a comic artist for 10 years and ‘found some mild success’. His words, not mine. Unfortunately, Luke hasn’t worked on anything for the past 2 years and has been single for a very long time. Both things have a lasting effect on his mental health and interpersonal relationships. Together with Luke, we explore self-help books, flooding cities, cushions with GPS trackers, melting ice caps, and online work meetings on an uninhabited Greek island.
A sense of unease accompanied me throughout the book, which mainly stemmed from how little to no connection Luke has with other characters, and, generally, with the outside world. Between being self-obsessive (selfish) and not having formed a complete sense of self (self-ish), he tries to find his way with self-help books or meditation apps that advise Luke to work on himself, though it’s painfully clear what he needs to focus on is forming and maintaining meaningful relationships. Either that, or he simply needs to follow the advice of the two mice living in his apartment and just chill the fuck out. I love those mice. I hope they are given a lifetime supply of cheese.
The cartoony art style and hues of pinks and blues give the fictional world a toyish air; the life fictitious Luke leads is very much real and tangible. But at the same time, it’s plastic, easily breakable under a bit of force, and ultimately replaceable. Moreover, the kid next door always plays with a better and more expensive one, never missing the chance to boast when this situation tells very little about their self and more about their parents’ income.
It is easy to type these things sitting in front of a screen, but how do you find meaning in a world that’s decaying at an alarming rate, in every sense of the word? In a time where no amount of hard work or saving up will be enough to buy a house like your parents did? When fame or recognition lie between the lines of social media algorithms? When a random Facebook post from 2008 holds the same weight as a recent, peer-reviewed scientific research when it comes to making important, life-altering decisions? Constantly battling the “Will I be able to provide the necessities to survive,” anxiety while influencers continually bombard us with some variation of a “Realize your dreams,” inspirational quote in Helvetica — we barely have a second to think by ourselves, and Healy is all too aware of the situation he’s in.
In an interview, Adam Phillips, a renowned psychoanalyst and essayist, comments on our understanding of adulthood, our relationship with pleasure, and making tangible plans for the future. He starts by underlining the concept that internally, we were more concerned with the idea of being good, but now the injunction is to be happy. He then continues to explore our fear of ambivalence.
“It’s as though we’re phobic of frustration. The moment there is a feeling of frustration, it’s gonna be filled with something. It’s a bit like the mother who overfeeds her child. She does that to stop the child from having an appetite because the appetite is so frightening. It seems to me there’s an attempt to foreclose the appetite. And that means, foreclose people’s capacity to think about what is really missing in their lives or what they might want, or what they might do about getting it.”
Not being allowed to move at our own pace, it almost feels impossible to ask the question Luke’s therapist wants him to genuinely ask: Who is Luke Healy? And what does he want to do?
The real-life Luke Healy condenses the hardships of doing creative work, fear and anxiety, the feeling of ‘impending doom’ of our time, and successfully places its main character at the intersection of political and personal. He does so with witty humor that makes you feel guilty for laughing at such situations. But you still giggle because Self-Esteem and The End of the World provides the reader with the distance needed to look at it all bird’s view
Only then is it possible to truly understand how interconnected the day-to-day problems we encounter are. And most of the time, they make very little sense. Changed landscapes due to extreme floods or the cushion with GPS his company gave Luke to track how many hours he’s been sitting in front of the computer seems made-up at first glance. However, the climate crisis and the exploitative, inhumane work conditions have been our new normal for quite some time
Possibly due to differences in my cultural and personal background, I find it hard to wrap my head around the hyper-individualistic take on life where there’s you and only…you. And the rest of the people or nature as a whole solely exist through you. In that sense, while certain parts of the narrative or Luke’s interactions with his family or strangers felt too isolated and self-centered, I was more than happy that they were balanced with moments of connection as well. Two of my favorite moments in the story were Luke’s conversation with his brother on the rooftop of a company building and with Beth, an archaeology researcher he met on his way to Lefkada, Greece.
I heartily recommend this thought-provoking and funny graphic novel. Make sure you get your hands on that gorgeous book, and leave the rest to Healy to take you on a journey that extends both inwards and outwards in the comfort of your home. If you’re interested in his other works, don’t forget to check out this review of Americana or interview on Arctic Expeditions and How to Survive in the North.
Also, ask your coworkers and friends: Do they ever feel like their death is imminent?
Self-Esteem and The End of the World is available now on Drawn & Quarterly.
