Anja Reviews “Everything Is Fine” by Mike Birchall

By: Anja Racke

Maggie and Sam are your average couple. They live in a normal house in a normal neighborhood with a normal dog and perfectly normal cat heads. Everything is fine.

Or at least, everything seems fine until Maggie and Sam’s dog, Winston, begins acting strangely, their neighbors start keeping secrets, and a nosey cop shows up at their door…

“Everything Is Fine” by Mike Birchall is a riveting horror Webtoon that needs to be experienced to be believed. Every episode will leave you on the edge of your seat as you slowly piece together the mysteries of Sam and Maggie’s dystopian world. This is the kind of story you don’t want to know too much about before reading it, as half the fun of it is in putting the puzzle pieces of the story together as you go. Mike Birchall will never give you the answers outright, but he has clearly thought out every aspect of his world and plot.

Similarly, the dialogue in “Everything Is Fine” is never what it seems, but it is full of subtle clues for what’s to come. The characters are forced to play their roles in this dystopian society, but there is an underlying tone of bitterness and fear in everything they say. There’s lots of clever foreshadowing and easter eggs hidden between the lines. Birchall’s writing will really make you think.

Last, but certainly not least, is the artwork of “Everything Is Fine.” The Webtoon is illustrated in an extremely simple and cartooney art style, more reminiscent of a kid’s show than a horror comic, but “Everything Is Fine”’s clean-cut style just makes it all the more unsettling. Another amazing aspect of the artwork is the way Birchall handles the characters’ cat heads. Because all the characters in this world wear cat heads, the readers cannot see their facial expressions. Instead Birchall relies entirely on body language and camera movements to communicate the characters’ emotions, and he does so masterfully.

“Everything Is Fine” is a truly unique dystopian horror webcomic that is well worth the read. You can read it on Webtoon here.