SWEET TOOTH 3 Review at IGN

Vertigo's latest keeps on going strong.
by Jesse Schedeen

November 4, 2009 - On a surface level, Jeff Lemire's Sweet Tooth seems to borrow from numerous sources. The basic concept of a young boy and his grizzled protector crossing a post-apocalyptic wasteland evokes images of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Comics like The Walking Dead and Y: The Last Man also deal with similar subject matter. But the difference lies all in the execution. No matter how many times we might have seen the post-apocalyptic tale in comics, Lemire makes it seem fresh again.

The story might have moved a little slowly in the first two issues, but now that Gus and Jepperd are out on the road the pace picks up a bit. Lemire devotes some time to building on Gus' character this month, proving again that he's more than a simple country hick with no practical knowledge of the world. One positive quality this series shares with The Road is the slowly building sense of tension. Gus and Jepperd spend most of the issue alone, but it's difficult not to feel a growing sense of foreboding with each passing page. Lemire has established this world as a dark, scary place, and the reader is now left to wait and wonder when tragedy will strike again for Gus. It's tough to know whether to even accept Jepperd as a companion for Gus or just one more threat to confront. A powerful and haunting dream sequence certainly casts doubt on Jepperd's motivations and Gus' safety.

More than anything, though, it's the fusion of Lemire's art and writing that make this series function so smoothly and elegantly. The best writers and artists may achieve that long-sought creative synergy, but it's hard to top a creator who can do both and do them well. Lemire knows his craft well. There's never a case where the storytelling falters or Lemire's intentions become cloudy. Lemire is skilled at building mood and tension in his scenes, be they set in a barren room or in the tortured landscape of Gus' dreams. It's not the most detailed book in the Vertigo lineup, but I'd go so far as to say that Sweet Tooth is the best-looking one.

Vertigo has launched numerous books in 2009. Their track record with these new releases is very impressive. But as much as I'm drawn in by complex, winding projects like The Unwritten, the captivating, elegantly sparse world of Sweet Tooth represents one of Vertigo's finest new books in years.

THE NOBODY NOMINATED FOR YALSA AWARD!

The Nobody has been nominated as one of The American Library Association's "Breat Graphic Novels For Teens"! Click here to see the entire list.

OUT TOMORROW SWEET TOOTH #3

By Pamela Mullin

Hunters, cultists, mutants and shantytown pimps all want a piece of Gus and all that stands between them, is Jepperd. As the little boy with antlers heads out into what’s left of the world, he’ll find out that no one is quite what they seem. Or are they? Jeff Lemire continues to amaze in SWEET TOOTH issue #3.

Noir Review

From The "BC REFUGEE BLOG":

NOIR: Crime done correctly . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

NOIR: A COLLECTION OF CRIME COMICS anthology, various writers and artists, trade paperback October 2009 (Dark Horse)

Wow!! This is extremely well done. If you were not exactly fond of crime comics before, you might be after reading this. It’s the best collection of any kind that I’ve come across in a good long time. All the stories are premium quality. All the art is deserving of your attention. Noir is “all thriller, no filler.” This is the kind of quality I was hoping to see in the new CREEPY series, which I gave praise to for it’s ambition but expressed disappointment for it’s execution. NOIR does not disappoint. It satisfies. Most of the stories have twist endings that you expect to see in the horror anthologies - - - and they are mostly clever and somewhat unexpected rather than predictable.

Dark Horse has assembled an army of stellar writers and artists to contribute to this anthology, of which I sincerely hope there are more to come: Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Barreto, Ed Brubaker, David Lapham, Jeff Lemire, Fabio Moon & Gabriel Ba, Dean Motter, Tom Orzechowski, Sean Phillips and Clem Robins. I’m also glad to see for my first time the works of Alex de Campi, Matthew & Shawn Fillbach, Stefano Gaudiano, Rick Geary, Paul Grist, Joelle Jones, Kano, Ken Lizzi, Chris Offut, M. K. Perker, Hugo Petrus and Gary Phllips. Every single one of them made a favorable impression on me. I kid you not. There is a baker’s dozen of stories in NOIR, and not a single one is a blank - - all silver bullets.

“Open The Goddamn Box’ opens the collection, and takes us to David Lapham’s world of Stray Bullets. Stray Bullets is one of those titles that I admire, especially for Lapham’s ability to portray all-too-realistically the degenerative side of human nature - - with grit and shocks galore and usually with a depressing ending. It’s that darkness that makes me avoid it and keeps me from being a regular reader. I’m relieved to report that this story at least ends in a positive fashion for the only character worth caring about. Two 15-year-old male perverts decide to kidnap, rape and kill a neighborhood female who they bear a grudge against for an incident in third grade. One is a budding psycho and the other is a common thug, content to be bossed around and always getting caught up in misdeeds. Credit Lapham for his disgusting but accurate portrayal of these characters - - they even remind me of some creeps I shared the same high school with. Sex is never about love or longing with these types - - it’s all about the machismo and domination, a real power trip. (For an audio-visual experience, read this story while listening to “Boys Who Rape Should Be Destroyed” by The Raveonettes.)

First with the new SWEET TOOTH series, and now with “The Old Silo” story in NOIR, Jeff Lemire impresses me with his ability to depict characters with seeming little effort. Just a few facial lines and angles and you get a clear impression of the struggling farmer that this story centers around. This story would have been a perfect selection for the recent CREEPY revival and seems more in tune with the spirit and tone of the original series than some of the actual features that made it into that first, disappointing issue.

“Yacht On The Styx” features Dean Motter’s creation, Mister X - - and this story is one of several featured in NOIR that really hits the mark in terms of paying homage to pulp fiction, classic detective yarns and the EC style of crime stories. Same goes for “The Last Hit” by Offutt & Kano/Guadiano about a veteran hit-man now entering his senior years and being set-up on his final mark. “Fracture” centers around a subway station encounter and is one of the more challenging stories in this collection, as it leaves the dialogue behind and resorts to caption-less mini-panels to move the story along - - albeit down several different paths leaving us to determine which is reality and which is fantasy. Very interesting.

That is just a small sampling of what’s in store in this collection. The art styles will remind you of many classic works from the past as well as classic illustrators, including Wally Wood and Jack Davis. There are a variety of stories and themes with no two stories seemingly alike. A night janitor stumbles across a suicidal accountant in the middle of taking down an entire office staff. A “playing-card” burglar picks the wrong household to steal from. A jealous man hires a hit-man to eliminate his wife’s no-longer-secret lover with an unintended outcome.

There’s a short and clever illustrated text piece in the center of the book that could easily be found in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. In “21st Century Noir” (a Criminal emission) Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips remind us that lonely men will always be persuaded by beautiful but bad women to do the wrong things. It’s all over in six pages as we meet The Lover, The Wife, and The Husband and then the surprise. I love all these tales, but my favorite is “The Bad Night”, the final story by Brian Azzarello with art by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba. A thug petitions to join a crime family and gets his audition, assigned to steal a valuable necklace. It’s the who, what, and when this occurs that will make you smile with appreciation for Azzarello’s creativity, especially the caption in the final panel.

NOIR is a keeper. Make a space on the book shelf.

This new painting of Wolverine will be part of an auctuion to help raise money for the SHUSTER AWARDS. Keep an eye on thier site for more details.

Cover Art for SWEET TOOTH #5 Revealed:

What could this mean for Gus!?

Sweet Tooth #1 Promotional Offer Now Over

The Sweet Tooth #1 Promotional Sketch offer has now ended. I would like to thank everyone who sent their copies of Sweet Tooth #1 along!