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.