
In using caricature, distortion, and exaggeration, art may appear “grotesque,” yet it doesn’t have to portray grotesqueness; instead, it can express something entirely different. Similar to many pioneering cartoons, the artwork in “Common Side Effects,” airing Sunday on Adult Swim and streaming from Monday on Max, resembles underground comics more than traditional animation. Characters with oversized heads, small bodies, tiny mouths, and hands may seem out of proportion or even a bit rough, but this doesn’t diminish their expressiveness or make them laughable. (Detailed backgrounds provide a realistic touch.) They perfectly encapsulate the relatively ordinary individuals they represent, though, as characters in an extravagant storyline, they are not typical.