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Review: Sex #3

By | May 24th, 2013
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

Possibly the most intellectual and cerebral book on the stands right now is also the book called “Sex”. Is anybody really surprised?

Written by Joe Casey
Illustrated by Piotr Kowalski

There are a million stories in Saturn City, and Simon Cooke’s is just one of them! His future may be wide open, but the past is hot on his tail! The Old Man can still get it up! No two ways about it — this is the perfect time to pay for SEX! It’s even better than you think!

As the solicit hints, this issue isn’t exactly about Simon Cooke. It’s not like the first two issues were, either – we still know very little about this guy, except that he used to be some kind of hero and now he’s repressed and unhappy. This issue really centers on the criminal underground of Saturn City – the enemy that Cooke ostensibly fought, once upon a time – and in doing so, gives us a better idea of the ideal that Cooke gave up. Because, even insofar as they are criminals, this is a pretty brutal underground, and things are getting worse.

Otherwise, Casey gives us the usual mix of introspection on Cooke’s part and general ennui, and we also check in with Keenan, the young vigilante doing the work that Cooke used to. And while it still feels like we’re a long way off from seeing Cooke’s world and the criminal one collide, Keenan as a character, and the consequences of one of his recent actions, are building something of a bridge in that department. Nothing concrete materializes as of this issue, but there is a sense of building momentum and suspense that the first two issues lacked.

In the mean time, what this issue is giving us is atmosphere and theme. And so far as that goes, the series’ trademark (if it can be said to have one after only three issues) seems to be the brightly coloured sex scene (or, in this case, masturbation scene) intercut with black and white flashbacks that present a contrast. As a motif it’s not exactly subtle (these people are getting sexual pleasure when what they actually need is [some other kind of fulfillment]), but it’s got a lot of thematic mileage. In this case it puts a decidedly “Watchmen”-esque spin on things in delineating the nature of the relationship between Cooke and Annabelle LaGravenese, and asks whether the romance of it was one-sided.

Kowalski’s art is subversive as always, emphasizing what’s sexual as well as what is violent or dangerous in any situation, whether sexual or violent at the outset or not. His people are all gorgeous, except for when they’re deformed, and the contrast is stark as can be. Meanwhile, the environments – particularly the cityscapes – have an appealing futuristic and minimalist quality that lend an icy veneer to the whole. The warmth and the heart of this story – and yes, there is some of both – come through almost despite themselves, via flattened and often quite subtle facial expression, and are left to the reader to puzzle out. Expressively drawing a character who seems to feel nothing is a challenge and a half, but Kowalski keeps Cooke’s general air interesting and thought-provoking, even if that means flattening out the expressions and making them even more difficult to read. It’s a method that gets the reader involved while maintaining an iconic, stylized quality, and as such is one of the book’s main selling points.

Brad Simpson’s colours on this book are gorgeous, delineating and emphasizing Kowalski’s beautiful line work as well as getting across a wonderful feel for the harshness of artificial light. And, if you’ll allow me to get sidetracked for a moment, they bear fruitful comparison with Muntsa Vincente colours on “The Private Eye”. It’s interesting: both books present bright, almost hallucinogenically so, near-futures, and both are filled with dark pasts and hidden betrayals. They’re both about surfaces – beautiful surfaces – and the horrible stuff that lurks underneath. And that may or may not say something about comics or the zeitgeist or what-have-you, but it’s certainly food for thought.

All told, this isn’t the issue where things start “happening” – but then, it’s starting to look like that kind of issue isn’t really in the cards. Not in a bad way, either: this just might be the sort of series where you find yourself adjusting to a certain atmosphere and pace that you might not exactly be used to, where you find yourself experiencing something that’s different from what you set out for. And I know you’re waiting for another sex pun in there somewhere, but I won’t give you the satisfaction, and neither will this book. “Sex”, in a lot of ways, is about frustration, which is the opposite of sex, but damned if it isn’t an interesting theme for a certain kind of slow-paced and thoughtful fable. This series is definitely going somewhere, but it’s subtle, and in order to get something out of it you have to engage with the complexity and yes, the ennui, yourself.

Final Verdict: 8.0 – Buy


Michelle White

Michelle White is a writer, zinester, and aspiring Montrealer.

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