Monday, December 22, 2008

Young Liars

Young Liars is an ongoing comic book series from David Lapham, published by DC's Vertigo imprint. It can be classified as crime fiction with a fairly realistic presentation, but much of the story and characterization is somewhat outlandish. Danny, the protagonist, is an aspiring musician who is obsessively in love with Sadie, who comes from a wealthy, unscrupulous (and very strange) family. Sadie is very uninhibited, due to a bullet being inextricably lodged in her brain. Other members of the group include CeeCee, a rock groupie; Donnie, a transvestite; Annie, an anorexic former model; and Runco, a rich boy who has many get-rich-quick schemes.

The real question is how to read Young Liars. Is it meant as a realistic take on the life of certain underground characters of New York City? Is it some kind of farce? Is it some kind of fantasy or dream? I think the correct answer is that it is all of these things. There are realistic aspects, but there is much that is clearly not meant to be taken seriously. For example, when Sadie beats up men twice her size, or water skis behind and then hijacks a cruise ship, this can be seen as a fantastical representation of what it is like to be involved with someone who has a brain injury or for some other reason cannot control their behavior. Sadie's paranoid suspicion of her family can also be seen in this way. No doubt, many people who are trying to break from their family often feel as if they have a midget Pinkerton detective chasing them. CeeCee's hangups regarding her abortion are very realistic, but the way that she keeps the fetus' tiny arm as a keepsake is perhaps a bit much. But all of the hangups, obsessions, unhealthy relationships, misguided goals, envies and backstabbing behaviors are very valid.

So the book should be read on several levels, and we probably wouldn't be reading it at all if these outlandish elements were not part of Lapham's style. Also, he doesn't even try to disguise the fact that Danny is not a reliable narrator. So that fact alone provides a clue that the entire story is purposefully over the top, exaggerated, not realistic, and dreamlike. It is meant to entertain and provoke, and perhaps make some valid observations about the dark issues many people cope with.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Lawless

Lawless, the second volume of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Criminal, begins shortly after the events of Coward. Tracy Lawless is AWOL from military prison, determined to find out who murdered his brother, Ricky Lawless. To get started, Tracy pulls a strong-arm robbery on the mob and tracks down an old acquaintance who specializes in forged identity documents. (If you think all of this will come back to haunt him later, you're right.) In short order, Tracy tracks down Ricky's old crew, murders their wheelman, and infiltrates the gang as their new driver. Tracy then gets close to Ricky's old girlfriend Mallory, who is also a member of the gang. Much mayem ensues, Tracy ends up finding out a lot more than he bargained for, and the ending leaves him with more questions than ever.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Incognito

Incognito is a new series from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Scheduled to begin in December 2008, the five-part story will be released under Marvel's creator-owned imprint, Icon. In a nutshell, the story is about a super-powered villain attempting to hide out in the witness protection program. Like Sleeper, the protagonist of Incognito has super-powers. However, according to published reports Incognito will be more of a crime noir story, where Sleeper was a bit more like Watchmen-- an exploration of human nature in a world much like our own where some people just happen to have super powers. The new story will also have somewhat of an espionage theme, not unlike Bruabaker's current presentation of Captain America. Suffice it to say that we will see a very dark and pulpy blend of genres.

Like Criminal, Incognito will fill out the 36 pages with prose articles in the back. Reportedly, there will be more articles about the pulp realm, such as Doc Savage and the Shadow, as well as articles about the world that the comics industry grew out of.

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