On occasion, it has happened that we’ll read a book by a writer we know and like with an artist we are unfamiliar with, and that artist will blow us away. It’s not a completely unusual occurrence, but every so often it does cause us to go out and actively search for more work by that artist. And what better way to celebrate such an occurence than here during August Artist? So from Grant Morrison’s Joe The Barbarian, today’s Off the Cape has us going on a journey not just off the cape but also off the road (I literally couldn’t resist making that joke) in writer/artist Sean Murphy’s first graphic novel, Off Road (originally from Oni Press, currently from IDW).
Find out more after the cut.
The premise of Off Road is fairly simple: three friends reunite, get in a Jeep and go off-roading. It’s not a difficult book to get into; in fact, it’s rather easy and personable. Each of our three main characters has just had something crappy happen in their lives, and the only way to reconcile with these events is to go out with the guys and tear a new one into Mother Nature. We’ve all been there before. But Off Road isn’t just “riding in cars with boys.” In fact, it gets a lot more deep than that – quite literally. As the boys drive off road, the Jeep ends up getting stuck in a swamp, and the group is left attempting to figure out how to get the car out before it’s utterly lost and Mother Nature wins.
What Off Road is is two things. The first thing is an exploration of male relationships and life. As I mentioned earlier, each character in the book has a very relatable issue prevalent to them at the books onset: Trent has just been dumped, Brad comes from an abusive home, and Greg is emotionally and spiritually lost in the world with no direction. It’s impossible to come into Off Road and not find at least one character whose situation doesn’t connect to the reader emotionally in some aspect, especially when Murphy begins to explore each of the character’s personal issues further in the story when all of the emotions come to a head and additional characters appear to help dig the Jeep out.
What makes the book so interesting, though, is that – without going over the top or becoming unrealistic at any point – Murphy accurately and poignantly illustrates (literally and figuratively) the complicated relationships of these characters as they erratically change from being best friends to bitter enemies in the span of a few pages. Obviously in a situation where your Jeep gets stuck and you can’t get it out, a lot of emotions would be flying about, and Murphy (almost as if from experience) relays that in a very vivid way within the book. It’s kind of impressive to see Murphy, who is most known to me/us as strictly an illustrator, having such a strong grasp on storytelling on his first go. Often times with a first graphic novel, you’ll find a lot of things that feel “silly” or even “dated” given the amount of time passed from initial release to present day, but it’s worth nothing that a book that originally came out in 2005 that was reprinted this year still feels fresh and visceral today, and it’s that timeless quality that really shows Murphy’s strong understanding of relationships and characters.
The second is that it’s an absolutely gorgeous piece of sequential art. Sean Murphy has a very sharp style that is instantly recognizable now, and while in his for-hire work you can often find a lot of widescreen action full of rich details, Murphy pulls it back a bit with Off Road and offers up a reading experience that is infinitely more personal in the visual aspect. This isn’t Joe the Barbarian, filled to every edge with toys come to life; this is three men and a Jeep stuck in the wild trying to make their way out. The characters all actively breathe in a real environment as Murphy fills the pages with scenery in a place that is fairly devoid of scenery (it is a damp swamp, after all). Murphy also cleverly jumps between a few styles in order to tell the current story, some history of the characters, and even an amusing fantasy sequence in which the art resembles crayon scribbles. Murphy’s art manages to be both playful and quite serious at any given time within the book, and his ability to bring forth strong emotional resonance in the title through the characters and setting speaks very highly to his skills. And again, keep in mind that this book was originally published six years ago and was Murphy’s first original graphic novel, so when comparing his more recent work (like Joe the Barbarian or City of Demons), it’s impressive and noteworthy to observe how clean and refined his art was at the beginning of his career (which has only gotten sleeker more refined since).
The weird fact of the matter is that often times, despite how good an artist may be, his personal storytelling is just not as good alone; Murphy proves this is far from the case. Off Road is an accessible and wonderful slice of life comic that speaks true to its environment and actively seeks to connect to it’s reader to fully relate the triumph held within the pages. This is a story about overcoming adversity, fighting against the very force of life itself, and being able to rise above and move beyond your past. Even more than that, though – this is a story about friendship, and how important that is to being strong in the shadow of doubts. What could be more relatable than that?
Be sure to check in your local shops for Off Road, but just in case here’s a link for Amazon.com in case you can’t wait that long – and why should you?
