Book Review: Godspeed: A Kurt Cobain Graphic Novel by Barnaby Legg and Jim McCarthy

I’ve been a Nirvana fan for about five, maybe six years. I was born in 1992 but I can’t pretend I identify with the alternative metal, grunge, post-grunge movement. I can barely call myself a Nineties kid at all when it comes to cultural identification. But it doesn’t mean I didn’t appreciate Cobain in my own way. And while I know some details about his life and tragic death, I’m not clumsy or naïve enough to interpret a comic book expression of his journey as his Word-of-God biography.

Let’s get it right off the bat that I don’t believe this graphic novel is completely true. But it’s a subjective artistic interpretation of another’s man life and the perspective it offers is still valuable. Legg and McCarthy are talented writers. They capture the burgeoning confusion and displacement of a preadolescent Kurt, the angst and depression of a teenage Cobain, and the chaos and pandemonium of the rock star he eventually becomes. Flameboy’s artwork here is gritty and messy, full of hard lines and sharp colors, bringing out something essentially Nineties in flavor and tone.

There is a scene in the novel that I found rather touching. It was where he had achieved everything he had ever dreamed of in his youth, where his accomplishments had become a reality, and he at last decided to let go of this dream, and let others follow. It’s a heartbreaking scene that doesn’t need melodrama or painstaking detail to be succinctly true. This novel can be true without being accurate.

Book Review: FreakAngels Vol. 1 by Warren Ellis

Originally a free webcomic that was released every Friday, this collects the first 24 issues. Twelve children were born in England at exactly the same moment. They exhibit psychic abilities at varying degrees. Six years ago, the world ended in an undisclosed cataclysm that has left civilization in ruins. Now, at 23, they try to piece together their lives in Whitechapel, maybe the last real settlement in flooded London. They are the self-proclaimed Freakangels, the councilors and protectors of Whitechapel. Of the original twelve, only eleven remain.

This opening arc begins with a girl named Alice walking into Whitechapel, wielding a shotgun, and crying out for the Freakangels. When they detox her of the subliminal junk in her brain, Alice serves as a placeholder for the readers. Her tour of steampunk Whitechapel is our introduction to this strange, new world. She may even be a reference to “Alice in Wonderland”. She certainly left behind normalcy and entered a very different world.

Warren Ellis is a clever writer who allows the reader to glimpse fragments of the plot. He alludes to the developing backstory, unravels lengthy exchanges depicting the interpersonal relationship among his large ensemble of characters. The best asset of “FreakAngels” is the brilliant dialogue. Ellis has a masterful touch for regional accents; the characters are distinguished by variances in speeches: KK, for example, is bemused and snarky, while Luke sounds bitter and indifferent. The British overtones are thick in the air and the dry humor punctuates the punk teens’ exchanges.

Paul Duffield is a fantastic artist. The purple eyes, the scenic landscape, the authoritative command of colors really bring out the somber atmosphere of post-apocalyptic Whitechapel.

This is a neat achievement in webcomic publishing. Ellis is consistent in his prominent intellectualism and unbridled vulgarity. The sociocultural themes are apparent throughout the story. Despite the steampunk motifs (Victorian-style corsets, stunning inventiveness), the essence of the story more inclined towards the post-apocalyptic field, as it charts the progress of rebuilding and redemption.

Day 33: Misery Loves Comedy by Ivan Brunetti

This case study of schizophrenia and psychosis collects Ivan Brunetti’s first three issues of the brilliant comic book series Schizo, as well as a agglomeration of miscellaneous musings and writings from over a decade. Brunetti’s self-caricature is intriguing realistic, in all its foibles and flaws: he is paranoid, deluded, graphically scatological, self-loathing, and violently depressed. But behind Brunetti’s fascinating nihilism, is a study of the darkest corners of human nature and an exploration of that selfish, brutish side of ourselves that we shudder to inspect closely.

Day 30: Y: The Last Man - Book One by Brian K. Vaughn

Several words to describe Vaughn’s work would be: clever, political, wry, variably pessimistic and optimistic, well-written, and fast-paced. The dystopian future where all living things with a Y chromosome die in the same exact instant (except for one man and his monkey) is a truly fascinatingly concept that is explored intelligently. I applaud the writer for handling the political and social fallout realistically. The first arc depicts Yorick’s travels with Agent 355 and Dr. Mann to reach her lab in California and develop a means of cloning males for the human species to survive. Their long journey across America’s chaotic landscape culminates in a climactic confrontation in a small settlement in Ohio between Yorick and his sister, wherein they find one another fearsomely changed by the event that changed the world. 

Day 22: Superman/Batman: Supergirl Vol. 2 by Jeph Loeb

Jeph Loeb and artist Michael Turner join to usher in the classic Supergirl’s return to the primary DC Universe continuum. This story is as much about Supergirl’s first experiences on Earth as it is about the tension and interactions between the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight. Loeb’s writing is at its finest, while his plotting is wrought with tension and suspense. I have to give the late Michael Turner his share of credit for drawing some amazing panels. He has a way for drawing women and depicting epic battle scenes. The dialogue Loeb wrote between Superman and Darkseid in their final confrontation was fantastic and believable. This is good writing meets good art. What more can you ask for?