I’m constantly picking up new graphic novels and trying to decide if I like them enough to carry them in the store. There are a lot that I don’t love. They’ll be available in the Geek Lounge Library, but I have a hard time asking for money for something I wouldn’t recommend.

The last such graphic novel I consumed was Unnatural by Mirka Andolfo. It’s about an anthropomorphic pig girl named Leslie who has been having erotic dreams about a wolf. But in the totalitarian society she lives in, she will be required to meet and mate with someone of her own species. The concept is new and the art is gorgeous! But once I was done reading the first trade, I was done, had no desire to pick up the next one.

It wasn’t that it was an erotica comic (self described, but there’s less sex in it than Saga to be sure). And it wasn’t that it was a bunch of animal people in sexy clothes. It was because I didn’t believe the characters. Their actions and dialogue didn’t make sense, and I was having a hard time relating to the characters.

For some reason, the thought that I couldn’t relate to a pig, rat or goat person bugged me. At first I was frustrated with myself for putting human expectations on non-humans but the more I thought about it, I realized there were plenty of non-human characters that had far less human characteristics that I related to and understood.

I’m not 100% sure what the psychology or sociology explanations are why we can and need to relate to characters even when they aren’t human, but I wanted to look at a few books and graphic novels that do an amazing job at writing for non-human characters.

There are no humans, or even creatures that look human in Mouse Guard. They are all animals who, aside from being tiny, dress, act and even fight like humans. There are different personalities, relationships, and occupations that make these little guys feel real and normal. I never once thought a mouse riding a bird was strange. It made perfect sense to strap a saddle on a blue jay to get airborne.

If you’ve read any of Saga, you should be able to understand the initial “Wow this is really weird” feeling I had when I first picked it up. The main characters, while not human perse, are human enough and look very similar to fantasy characters at least I’m used to by now. So they weren’t really the surprising characters. It was characters like Prince Robot IV and The Stalk who were initially jarring.

Our very first introduction to Prince Robot is a sex scene between a couple with human bodies and TVs for heads. Not particularly normal, and even a bit juvenile in nature. All throughout the story thus far, Prince Robot has images that appear on his screen, sometimes he controls them, other times the images are subconscious. About halfway through, his head is no longer novelty, it’s a part of him, and it helps us a readers get to know him, relate to him and ultimately care for him.

The Stalk is, how do I describe her, a horrifying spider lady. And I use the term lady VERY loosely. She has a normal human torso except she has no arms. Her head is humanish, except for the elongated forehead that is filled with four sets of blood red eyes. Creepy. But it’s not nearly as creepy as what she’s got going on below her dress. She has a giant arachnid body complete with 8 arm/legs that she can crawl on or wield weapons like guns, knives or axes. She’s hideous and terrifying. However, her relationship with the human (as much as I can tell) character The Will, while at first disgusting, eventually humanizes her.

Whereas as other characters don’t particularly look like humans but act like them, Ancillary Justice’s main character does look humanoid most of the time, but her existence is so far removed from anything I have ever seen in real life or fiction that on paper I really shouldn’t bond with her as much as I did.

The main character, the Justice of Toren, is a spaceship. However, as opposed to Moya from Farscape, her consciousness is not confined to a single vessel. She is able control the ship and many of the occupants on the ship, including the flesh and blood bodies of conquered species. She can be carrying on a conversation with a ship in another part of the solar system, talking with the children of an occupied planet, and discussing something with one of the Lieutenants on the ship. AT THE SAME TIME.

The movement of time and space is very different as well, because she is old. Like thousands of years old. And because she can receive data from other ships in a similar way that she receives data from her being, her concept of time and distance is so foreign from us as the reader.

There are a lot of strange things in the Umbrella Academy, that’s why I love it. People, who may not actually be human who have superpowers, really strange villains like a fish on a robot body, straight up killer robot dudes and Hazel and Cha-Cha who either have really large cartoon heads or are wearing mascot heads, depending on if you are reading the graphic novel or watching the tv series. But it’s the Hargreeve parenting trio who do a great job of using different levels of human characteristics to get you to relate to the characters.

Sir Reginald Hargreeves is a terrible father to the Hargreeve kids and probably should have never been allowed to raise kids. He isn’t human, so that probably accounts for his inability to act human, but he looks human enough and could arguably represent people with less than comforting characteristics. However, as the series progresses, you start to learn that despite all of his many faults, Hargreeves does actual care, and for the most part, has the kids’ best interest at heart. Even if he does go about parenting in the most psychologically damaging way possible.

Pogo, who is a chimpanzee with advanced intelligence, acts as a more loving father than Reginald. Thank goodness the kids had him around. While being fully chimp in body, Pogo walks, talks, dresses, and relates to the other characters like a human. He, in many instances fills in for the roll of normal father to the Hargreeve kids. So, his death, is far more impactful than Reginald’s. It is clear that he loves the kids and they love him in return.

Grace, the third and final Hargreeve parent fills the role of mom. Grace, who is very much a robot, looks and acts like a 50’s era housewife. Her mannerisms and speech patters are that of a robot, where the reactions were programmed by Reginald himself, so sometimes they are a little less than human, however, there are moments where Grace feels more alive and human than anyone. The way that she interacts with her kids is so heartwarming and the relationships that she has with each of the kids, especially Diego makes you fall in love with her.

Similarily to Mouse Guard, Pride of Baghdad has characters who are not human at all, but animals. However, unlike Mouse Guard, these animals act like animals. The only aspect that allows us to relate to them as humans is that they talk. This tactic of humaizing was never a big leap for me personally, seeing as how I have always given all of my pets voices and with them personalities. I would argue that they already have personalities and I just give them a voice, in the very way that I believe Brian K. Vaughan has given his characters in this graphic novel. It’s the very human struggles that each lion deals with that allows us to relate so closely to them.

Zill deals with getting old but still needing to be able to protect his family. Safa is forced to face the tramautic events of her past and having to be in close proximity with Zill who was once her lover, but is now with the younger Noor and their son Ali. Noor, who was born in captivity, longs to be free, and is constantly at odds with Safa who has already expericnced “freedom” at the cost of her being mulitated and raped. Ali is an inexperienced youngster who is not only naive but also innocent and the entire pack understands that he must be protected. All of these experiences are seen in the animal kingdom, but there is a human quality to all of them that seem so real.