Wake Volume 3: Gearing Upby Barb Lien-CooperReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk.
Publisher
Credits Grade: 8 This science fiction graphic novel is haunting. It stays with a person a long time after one's read it. It shocks the reader a bit, in a good way, it makes the reader think, it delivers memorable characters, and yet all the thrills one would want out of a science fiction comic are also there. This is the type of comic one can enjoy on a serious level or on a frivolous level. One can ignore the allegory and just watch our heroine kick alien butt or one can think about the allegorical elements and how they relate to our world. The comic refuses to be pretentious and always delivers on the thrills, but it also refuses to be anything but intelligent. If you've ever gotten "the speech" from your friends about how sci-fi isn't really literature, only fanboys read it, and that it's all sub-Star Wars glitter and no gold, pull out this book and force your friends to read it. If they don't come out of the experience with a new respect for the genre, they're being dishonest and stubborn just for the sake of argument.The set up: there's only one earthling left, from the looks of things. She joins up with some aliens as a mercenary so she can see if there are other humanoid types in the universe. What she discovers is a race of people that are rather humanoid in looks, except that their faces have the coloring of (believe it or not) giant pandas. She visits the planet to try to find out more about the people there, only to discover an incredibly messed up place — a place of fascist oligarchies, shadow conspiracies, incredible discrimination against the indigenous creatures of the planet (read an allegory about Native Americans in here and you wouldn't be wrong), the killing of an important type of cattle in order to starve these creatures to death (yep, just like the buffalo), cruel, painful genetic experiments, and a government that lies, lies, lies. It's not a pleasant picture of ourselves or of human nature, but it is a valid one. There's a slightly hopeful "meek shall inherit the earth" ending that is a shocking yet logical way to end the book. The art is glorious, in that European way that is subtle, realistic, yet slightly surreal. The characters are all too human, even though they aren't exactly human. The work puts the "novel" in "graphic novel". The work isn't afraid to treat its audience as intelligent beings capable of understanding a somewhat complex but clearly stated plot. The translation (from French, I think) is simply but gracefully done, in a way that never seems clunky or awkwardly stated. This is an Eisner-iffic book. I look forward to reading the other two volumes of the series. Written: May 16, 2002
|
||
|
Home |
Features |
Columns |
Culture Vultures |
Report Card
Indicia | Contact | Archives © Sequential Tart, 1998 – 2021 |
||
