This just in from the prestigious Booklist. The "*" they mention means "outstanding in the genre." Nice!
*STAR*Wood, Brian and Cloonan, Becky. Demo. 2005. 288p. illus. AiT/Planet Lar, paper, $19.95 (1-932051-42-2). 741.5.
After only a few glances, you grok why indie-comics mavens rave about the 12-issue comic Demo. Cloonan’s artwork progresses from strength to strength, beginning as an Americanized take on grunge manga (big eyes, blank faces, bristling or moppy or no hair, lots of little-line detail) in stark black and white, proceeding through reduced lineation and varying amounts of shading to selectively mounting wholly drawn figures on manipulated photo imagery in the last three stories. Also employing a huge range of angles-of-vision and perspective points, it looks like a billion bucks. The story lines aren’t bad, either. They’re about late-teens-to-early-thirties crises of separation from home, lover, or way of life. Early on, protagonists have scary psychokinetic powers, such as killing with a spoken word or concentrated rage and shape-shifting according to others’ expectations. Writer Wood soon modified and eventually dropped that conceit. The hapless young father in the story excerpted for the inaugural Year’s Best Graphic Novels, Comics & Manga (2006) is just a never-miss rifle shot, and the three twentysomethings in the especially effective "Midnight to Six" are unusual only in having stuck to "The Slacker Pledge" they signed in eighth grade. Lacking recurring characters, Demo altogether is less reminiscent of other comics series than of a thematic rather than continuous-narrative novel, such as John Horne Burns’ The Gallery (1947). High praise, maybe, but deserving. ––Ray Olson
YA/M: Mature situations and language but oozing YA appeal. RO.
****
And as Art Week™ comes to a close, please direct yourself over to Newsarama, where Matt and the boys offer an in-depth look at everything that's coming up soon. Larry's tears could cure cancer... but he never cries. Check out AiT in 2006, with commentary straight from the creators.
To keep wetting your whistle, here's a look at project we saved just for you this Friday. Ladies and Gents, I present: Continuity
Continuity by Jason McNamara and Tony Talbert. The mind-trip begins in 2006, from AiT/Planet Lar.
****
Comics Worth Reading looks at all three Electric Girl volumes:
There's a lot of imagination on display in these books. Virginia lives in a world where anything can happen, and the author demonstrates that with a wide range of stories and moods. I should also note the excellent use of blacks and backgrounds, and he also does a great job of capturing motion and movement. Overall, there's a very animated feel.
****
--Josh
