Sweet Toothaccount40 issues published by Vertigo between 2009 and 2013, written and drawn by Jeff Lemire. The series is read in order, in one go, and continues withThe Return, a six-issue miniseries published in 2020 by DC Black Label.The best entry format remains the edition in three bound volumes, which covers the entire main story without a break.
Sweet Toothcompte40 issues published by Vertigo between 2009 and 2013, written and drawn by Jeff Lemire. The series can be read in one go.
It is the most frequent gateway to his work, and the one which poses the most practical questions: how many volumes, what editions, should we read the sequel published seven years later, and in what order should the accompanying stories be placed. This article answers each, French editions included.
What the series is about
A pandemic has decimated humanity. Since then, no more human children have been born: the only births are hybrids, half-human, half-animal, of which no one knows whether they are the cause of the scourge or its consequence. Gus, a little boy with deer antlers, grew up hidden in a Nebraska forest by a father who forbade him to leave. The father dies. Gus comes out.
He meets Jepperd, a taciturn colossus who offers to take him to a Reserve where other hybrids would be safe. The reader understands very quickly what Gus does not understand - and it is this gap, held over forty issues, which makes the series.
The comparison that comes up most often isBambicroisé avecMad Max. It's right on point, but it misses the point:Sweet Toothis first and foremost a story about surrogate fatherhood, and what a damaged adult does to a child who trusts him.
Reading order, in three lines
There is no chronological trap here, unlikeBlack Hammer. The main series reads from number 1 to number 40, in order. Only two things require a decision.
1. The main series — 40 issues
From 2009 to 2013 at Vertigo. Complete story, with an ending desired by the author: Lemire stopped the series at the time he had planned, which is rare enough to be noted. No volume is optional.
2.Sweet Tooth: The Return— 6 numéros
Published in 2020-2021 by DC Black Label. It is neither a prequel nor a direct sequel: a parallel story set in a much more distant future, with a new Gus. To readaprèsthe 40, never before — the interest lies entirely in what we already know.
3. Short stories
Some additional stories have appeared in Vertigo collections and hardback editions. They shed light on secondary characters without adding anything to the plot. Optional, and read last.
Formats, and which one to choose
This is the point that costs readers the most, because four different items contain the same story and nothing clearly indicates this on the covers.
The 40 soft numbers.The original form, the one that collectors seek. To read, it is the most uncomfortable format: forty booklets to put away, and a reading interrupted by cuts designed for a monthly rhythm which no longer has any reason to exist.
Les six recueils.The classic Vertigo division, five to seven issues per volume. Economical format, widely available second-hand, and the easiest to gradually complete. It is also the one that circulates the most in libraries.
The three bound volumes called “Deluxe”.Each covers about a third of the series, in larger format and with bonus features. This is the edition that I recommend for a first reading: the division into three corresponds much better to the three movements of the story than the division into six.
L'intégrale en un volume.It exists, it is heavy, and it has the advantage of resolving the storage issue in one go. Reserve: a book of more than a thousand pages is difficult to read when holding the book, and is rarely reread.
The most common error, and it is mechanical.A reader starts with the collections, stops at the third, comes back two years later and buys a Deluxe because he can't remember what he owns. Deluxe 1 then completely covers collections 1 and 2 already purchased.
The only remedy is to decide on the formatavantto start, and write it down somewhere. On a series of forty issues available in four editions, memory is not enough - and the second-hand seller will not warn you.
French editions
The series was published in French, with a division specific to the French-speaking edition which does not exactly match that of the American collections. This is a classic source of confusion when completing a collection started in one language and continued in the other.
Two practical tips. First, don't mix languages on the same series: the issues covered by a French volume and by an American collection almost never coincide, and you will end up with holes or overlaps. Next, always check the number range indicated in the endpapers rather than relying on the volume number — that is the only reliable information.
ForThe Return, French availability was later and more irregular than that of the main series. If you can't find it, it's not a mistake on your part.
What drawing brings to the story
Lemire draws the entire series himself, and that's what sets it apart from most post-apocalyptic stories. His trembling features, his unstable proportions, his awkward areas of black produce a permanent discrepancy with the harshness of what is being told.
Concretely: the scenes of violence are never spectacular. Where a genre designer would seek impact, Lemire leaves the panel almost empty, or shifts the gaze. The violence is constant but never offered — which makes it significantly more disturbing than if it were detailed.
The most remarkable process concerns Gus himself. His deer antlers are drawn without an effort of anatomical credibility: they are simply there, as a child would draw them. This refusal of realism means that the reader very quickly stops seeing them as a prosthesis, and accepts them as part of the child — which is exactly the moral movement that the series demands.
Three things to know before you start
The series is harder than it looks
The cover, the line and the child with deer antlers suggest a tale. It's not one of them. The series deals with captivity, medical experimentation and mourning, without complacency but without detour either.
The explanation comes late, and that's intentional
The origin of the pandemic and the hybrids is only clarified in the last third. Many readers give up halfway through believing that the series has no answers. She has one, and it's been consistent since the first issue.
This is not a survival story
The post-apocalyptic codes – resources, factions, hordes – are present but secondary. The real subject is the relationship between Gus and Jepperd, and everything else is subordinate to it.
The adaptation tells something else
The TV series exists and has its own quality, but its tone is significantly softer and several arcs diverge. Knowing it does not exempt you from reading, nor does it spoil reading.
OùSweet Toothis placed in the work of Lemire
This is his first long series, and the hinge between the two sides of his work. Before, there isEssex County: the intimate rural drama, in black and white, without genre. Afterwards, there will beGo down,Black Hammer,Gideon Falls— assertive genre series, often entrusted to other designers.
Sweet Toothholds both at the same time. The form is that of the genre story – post-apocalypse, conspiracy, quest. The background is that ofEssex County— a child, a surrogate father, a campaign where we don't say what we feel. This is the series that proves that Lemire could do genre without giving up on what interested him.
She also explains why Marvel and DC came for him right after.Animal Manat DC in 2011, thenOld Man LoganetMoon Knightat Marvel: each time, a gender character treated by his family and his mental health rather than by his struggles. The method was developed here.
Nebraska, Alaska and the Story Map
The series is constructed as a movement, and knowing its geography helps you not get lost in the central third, reputed to be the slowest.
It all begins in a forestNebraska, a closed and protective space that Gus never left. The first half of the story is a movement eastward, toward the Reservation, through an empty country. Then the series shifts: the last third goes back towards theAlaska, where the origin of everything is found, and the nature of the journey changes completely — we no longer run away, we seek.
This geographical shift corresponds exactly to the narrative shift. As long as we go east, the series is a survival story; as soon as we go north, it becomes an investigation into origins. Readers who switch off in the middle usually stop just before this turn—that is, at the precise moment when the series begins to answer its own questions.
Follow a long series available in four editions
Forty issues, six collections, three Deluxe, one complete, plus a mini-series of six issues and French editions with different divisions:Sweet Toothis a textbook case of the problem posed by collecting by series rather than by work.
The reflex that avoids duplicates is simple to state and difficult to remember: record what you have at the level of thenumber, not volume. A catalog that knows that you have numbers 1 to 17 will immediately tell you that a Deluxe 1 would do you nothing, regardless of the edition name on the spine.
Frequently asked questions
This depends entirely on the edition, and is the most common source of confusion. The series has 40 issues, grouped either in six collections, in three bound volumes, or in a single complete. The French editions have their own division. The only reliable reference is the original number, indicated on the cover pages.
It's not necessary for the main story to be complete — all 40 issues have a true ending.The Returnis an autonomous extension set in a very distant future, whose entire interest rests on what the reader already knows. To read after, or not at all, but never before.
Yes, and this is an important point: Lemire concludedSweet Toothat number 40, in the place he had planned, without cancellation or hasty ending. It's a complete story, which is not so common in American serial comics.
The series was published under the Vertigo label, aimed at an adult readership. It contains violence, scenes of captivity and themes of medical experimentation. The gentle drawing and the childish character are misleading: this is not a book for young readers, despite its appearance.
The three bound volumes, if the budget allows it: their division into three corresponds to the three movements of the story, much better than the division into six collections designed for monthly publication. The collections remain the most economical choice and the easiest to find second-hand.
Do not repurchase the same number twice
Save your issues rather than your volumes, and know immediately what a hardcover edition would bring you — or not.