 |
| The cover to the trade paperback of Memetic |
I’ve decided to continue recommending some of the best gay graphic novels of 2015 with Memetic, written by James Tynion IV, drawn by Eryk
Donovan, and colored by Adam Guzowski. Originally published by BOOM! Studios as
three oversized issues beginning in late 2014, it was collected in trade
paperback in October 2015. It’s a horror comic with a unique gay protagonist as
one of its centers and hidden philosophical depths that could be misconstrued
as ranting against technology, if the book weren’t tapping into very real
anxieties and longings. It upends the expectations of the reader several times
along the way to its stark conclusion.
A goofy sloth meme has shown up in everyone’s social
media feeds, and anyone who looks at it experiences an addictive sense of
euphoria. Aaron Sumner is the lone exception, immune due to color blindness and
hearing impairment. At first, he tries to be the voice of reason, but soon
finds himself facing the apocalypse. He tries to find his high school
boyfriend, from whom he’s been separated now that he’s started college. The
other half of the story deals with the military attempting to find a cure for
the effects of the meme, which I won’t spoil here. It’s almost a shock that
Memetic has only three chapters that dramatize three days until the end of the
world; each issue is so packed with action and detail, one could be forgiven
for thinking it were longer despite reminders on almost every page at how
quickly events are unfolding.
In an interview with Comics Alliance, Tynion said, “I
knew that I wanted a queer protagonist, because we so rarely see that in horror
stories for whatever reason.” Fortunately, Aaron is much more than the queer
version of the horror trope of the last man standing. He has an inner strength
of which he is not aware until a devastating revelation from another character,
and, despite a definitive otherness, he is the perfect witness for the events
that unfold around him. The decisions he makes are heartbreaking at times, but
make perfect sense in the story.
This is enhanced by Donovan’s artwork, which provokes wonder
and terror in equal measure. Tynion
cited John Carpenter as an influence for the story, but Donovan seems more
indebted to David Cronenberg for some of the images that will remain with the
reader. His facial expressions are suitable for each character, and betray photorealistic
origins that ground all the turns in the story for maximum plausibility. Adam
Guzowski’s colors, meanwhile, are part of what makes the “good-time sloth” so
unsettling in the first place, and develop the backgrounds and atmosphere for the
characters and reader alike.
Memetic was nominated for the 2015 GLAAD Media Award
for Outstanding Comic Book. It is available at the publisher’s website, Amazon,
and comiXology.
No comments:
Post a Comment