Whenever I write that a comic is more than a comic, but "literature," I worry that such an assessment also insinuates in effect that most comics are not literature. That assigning the word "literature" to a comic is some sort of aberration – or, worst yet, mere patronizing praise. And that's not what I mean to say. I mean to say that I put various comics in various categories, the way I put various books in various categories. There are some books that I enjoy as tight legal thrillers or exaggerated action-adventure potboilers; I don't consider them "literature," but instead more like straight entertainment. A best-selling author like Stephen King can fall either way depending on the book. Ditto for Grant Morrison. But to me, there's a difference, a (highly subjective) line of demarcation.
I consider Jeff Lemire's comic "Sweet Tooth" to be literature.
In his guest-editorial for Vertigo, Lemire describes "Sweet Tooth" as a "post-apocalyptic, neo-western, action-adventure, science fiction, road-movie hybrid." Forget all that & back up. "Sweet Tooth" is an affecting tale of isolation and forbidden knowledge. The first issue finds a strange young man expressing the desire to learn more about the world and who he is. His father has isolated him in a cabin surrounded by snow and emptiness, and seeks to keep his son from attaining this self-knowledge: hoping to keep him safe in ignorance. But like every good hero's journey, this situation cannot stand.
Why does this boy look the way he does? What is the "accident" his father refers to? And what's with all the shooty-guns and violence?
I read this comic after finishing a book with a similar desolate, snowy tone, Russell Banks' "Affliction." Both works successfully utilize the vast, empty landscapes of the American north to convey the utter alienation, and paradoxical yearning for self-awareness, of the main characters.
Books like "Sweet Tooth" and "Air" are what Vertigo Comics should be producing, in my opinion. I like Vertigo's "action" stuff, and of course "Fables" is the big cash cow at the moment, but I fear that quirkier comics like Lemire's work gets potentially lost in the shuffle and the flash. Then there is the question of, once I've spent the introductory price of $1 for "Sweet Tooth" #1, buying the other single issues or waiting for the trade or hardcover. My temptation, honestly, is to wait for the collected edition. But then does my waiting contribute to hurting the longevity of this title? Or has Vertigo/DC figured this reluctance to purchase monthly issues as part of the equation?
Answering my own question: in this economy, I would think the monthly issue sales are crucial & necessary for supporting a new title.
I know what you mean and I am definitely planning to check this out.
ReplyDeleteBut I am still bothered sometimes.
Forget comics, I don't like it when genre fiction is praised by being called literature, primarily because you don't hear of many books about the internal problems of middle-class and upper middle-class families "rising" to the level of literature.
Some booktores at least separate general fiction from literature. However, I still prefer the egalitarian organization of the library.
My gut - or at least my hope - is that Lemire has a self-contained story mapped out and he isn't reliant on good sales to tell exactly the story he wants ... it's just sales may affect the length of that story. If much at all.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, both Sweet Tooth and Air are marvelous.
Oh yeah. I also love Air (but am only buying trades...)
ReplyDelete