With modern politics taking a turn (or should that be nosedive) to the dark side, perhaps there has never been a more perfect time for a twisted commentary on the rich eating the poor. Read on for our review, which contains only mild spoilers.
Written by Lonnie Nadler and Zac Thompson
Illustrated by Eric Zawadzki and Dee CunniffeA gentrified city. Its homeless population restricted to six square blocks called The Dregs. When people start disappearing, a drug-addled homeless man obsessed with detective fiction becomes addicted to solving the mystery. Equal parts Raymond Chandler and Don Quixote set in a thriving metropolis that literally cannibalizes the homeless, The Dregs is the first homeless meta noir ever made.
Taking its satirical and conceptual cues from “A Modest Proposal,” an essay written by Jonathan Swift in the early 1700’s, “The Dregs” presents a world in which the upper class of Vancouver feast on the homeless, converting the poorest members of society into gastronomic extravagance at only the most exclusive restaurants.While Swift’s original essay was in part a deeply satirical commentary on the economic corruption of his society at the time, here, writers Zac Thompson and Lonnie Nadler (filmmakers and contributors to Huffington Post and Vice) seem to be instead highlighting the moral corruption of modern times; committing grim, unthinkable crimes against humanity not for the needs of the people, but for the wants of the elite. “They don’t come here for the food anyway.” our narrator tells us, “Only to be seen here.”
If you think this comic would be shy about detailing the grim central conceit of its story, all creators involved work wonderfully macabre magic within the first 5 pages to ensure you lose your appetite for a week. There are no cutaways, no artistic allusion to the act itself, merely cold, unflinching, graphic slaughter. The art by Eric Zawadzki and colors by Dee Cunniffe are disturbing and brilliantly detailed: the most horrific scene you can imagine is presented in such a systematic fashion across two crisp, intentionally formal 9 panel pages so that you’re left in no doubt that you’ve just witnessed a well-oiled, altogether casual business of murder and consumption.
From there we are handed over to our narrator and protagonist Arnold Timm (via a quote from “A Modest Proposal,” naturally) and the tropes of Noir fiction start to unfurl. Zawadzki’s art is so subtle in this introduction. While Arnold’s coming down off a ‘Listo’ high, a fictional drug, the panel borders are hand drawn, but as he sobers they become more formal and straight, a nice touch. Likewise, throughout the issue, we see character’s faces from the point of view of someone on ‘Listo,’ and they’re portrayed like they’re impressionist paintings, Cunniffe perfectly capturing what I later found out was a nod to the figurative work of artist Francis Bacon.
Every page of this issue feels like artist Zawadzki is having fun. There’s experimentation with form on practically every page; from a warping of architecture in the background of some panels to give the illusion of unease and nausea (seriously it made my eyes go funny) to an ever increasing panel count as you read down a certain page in order to speed up the pacing of an escalating conflict, there’s not a single page where the artist isn’t trying something different to the one that came before. A personal highlight of mine is how Zawadzki captures the passage of time in a single page montage; as Arnold wanders through the streets, lost in thought, his actions are framed by panels on a page converted into a map, allowing us to follow our protagonist on his journey through the city.
Similarly, with Cunniffe’s choice of palette, you can feel the heat of the city as Arnold walks around, and smell the stench coming off the streets and the characters. Cunniffe brings a realism to his colors for the most part, which allows him to throw the reader off balance when he portrays the brightly colored drug use or the visceral carnage of that first scene.
Nadler and Thompson take their ghoulish concept and run it through the filter of a hard-boiled detective drama, but what makes that approach unique, however, and allows them to turn this into the self-proclaimed Meta-Noir of the solicitation, is their protagonist. It’s Arnold Timm’s love of hard-boiled detective stories that drives his inner monolog and it’s a neat way of providing context for using this particular style. As we follow him around, his narration is clipped and brusque just like his heroes, and the way he describes the world he lives in is a style lifted straight from those novels.
Continued belowThe noir tropes don’t stop with the narration either. As Arnold delves deeper into the mystery, he comes face to face with a sultry femme fatale, corrupt establishment figures, shady criminals up to no good, and even a dead body with a cryptic clue in their lifeless hand. The story structure is familiar also, as the writers use a seemingly straight forward case as a step towards a bigger mystery, involving a character out of his depth fighting against the system, all of which are standard noir tropes.
“The Dregs” #1 is an issue that doesn’t just pay homage to the greats like Chandler or Hammett, it immerses itself into the very fabric of noir. You won’t find any sly winks to the reader (apart from a subtle one hidden in the final sentence) or tongue-in-cheek references to Sam Spade, rather you’ll find yourself reading a story that is fully committed to the style, and is perhaps one of the most faithful noir tales in years. If the series continues the high quality of this issue, it will likely become one of the best noir stories in comics.
Final Verdict: 8.8 – A grim premise presented in a unique way, “The Dregs” looks gorgeous even at it’s most horrific, and reads like the type of thrilling crime story its main character is obsessed with. A fantastic debut issue.
