A few months back, our dastardly editor in chief (as he is wont to do), began raving to me and demanding I buy and read a not so little hardcover collection of a book called Local by Multiversity favorite Brian Wood and artist Ryan Kelly. As I am wont to do, I put off this suggestion, quietly adding Local to my ever expanding Amazon wish list and leaving it there for a while. Despite the ire I earned for “never taking his recommendations” from our fearless leader, waiting on that particular purchase ended up playing out well for me, as I was not only able to pay Kelly for it directly, but he returned the favor by sketching the book’s main character Megan McKeenan beautifully inside my front cover. But all historical banter aside, this book (which collects all twelve issues and heaping butt load of extra material for six dollars LESS than the cost of all twelve issues individually) really was breathtaking from start to finish and is just one more reason why Brian Wood is becoming one of my new favorite writers of graphic fiction.
Much like some of his other work (most notably Demo), Wood takes the “one and done” story telling angle he works with so well with this series. Each issue contains one story taking place in a different North American location as Megan crosses the country searching for herself or at least something like it. Each story contains its own unique voice and style and Kelly does appear to adapt and constantly evolve his style from story to story. However, unlike Demo, the final issue (plus the last few pages of the penultimate issue) actually ties the whole story together in a greater way than just having Megan appear in every issue. This epilogue of sorts helps tie the whole story together to truly give the book a very grassroots, tame but still epic feel once all is said and done.
However, it really is the individual story pieces that carry the book, and while most of these stories are dedicated to Megan and her growth, I found that the few issues that focused on other characters also ended up being superb, thought provoking character pieces. For the sake of leaving some mystery left to inspire you to buy the book yourself, I won’t go into detail on each of these stories, but one of them was just too good and resonated with me so thoroughly that I have to write about…that story being Chapter #3 — Theories and Defenses.
As sad as this is for me to admit, EiC Matt called my loving this one too, as one of his primary pushes to get me to read the book was this very story. Framed with a fictional interview of the fictional singer/guitarist of the fictional band Theories and Defenses, this story took a deep and profound look at the life of a touring band. At some point in their career, the Richmond, VA originated band relocated to Europe and along with this relocation came a distinct change in their sound that departed heavily from their previous work. Following their break-up, all four members returned home to four very different lives in Richmond than they had left behind. Using this very simple premise, Wood manages to paint a very candid, immensely emotional portrait of the independent as well as the mainstream music scene and the people that make it up, covering topics such as selling out, pandering, break-ups and solo-acoustic careers with so much respect and honesty that I can’t help but wonder if Wood himself was in a band at any point in his life. As a sometimes musician and an all the time music lover, this issue hit all the right notes…and Megan was only in it for two pages.
As for the art, despite being breathtaking, career defining work for Ryan Kelly, it is also notable due to the fact that fans actually living in the cities portrayed in the stories went out and took reference photos for Kelly to ensure that all representations of the places these characters travelled to were spot on and respectful. That kind of attention to detail just adds heaps and heaps of awesome to the already crisp but not rigid, well composed but still a little experimental east meets west style Kelly is known for. I feel terrible making this comparison since even I see it as the easy way out giving HER relationship with Wood, but Kelly’s work here is also very reminiscent of Becky Cloonan’s style over on Demo, which is by no means a bad thing.
To reel it all in: do I wish I read this book sooner than I actually did? Maybe. But nonetheless if you’re a fan of smartly written, immensely relatable, intensely emotional and beautifully drawn graphic fiction about life and everything that happens while you try to find it, you simply HAVE to read this book.
