Grinding Against the Marrow (Review)
Writer: Snake Artist: Mauro De Falco October 2026 Graphic novels that tackle systemic poverty, homelessness, and addiction often run the risk of falling into miserabilism, treating human suffering as little more than misery porn for middle-class consumption. Grinding Against the Marrow, written by British writer (and acclaimed poet) Snake and illustrated by Italian artist Mauro De Falco, manages to avoid much of that territory. Rooted in the lived trauma of its creator and presented through an arresting combination of kinetic artwork and lyrical prose, this is less a conventional graphic novel than a bruised, jagged poem about the gravitational pull of a dying town and the difficult business of escaping it. The story takes place in The Vale, an anonymous, claustrophobic suburban wasteland that seems determined to swallow everyone unfortunate enough to call it home. At its center is Soma, a hooded, scarf-obscured former drug addict now living on the
