“Immortal”
Writer & Artist: Dean Haspiel
“Panorama”
Writer & Artists: Michel Fiffe
Publisher: Image Comics
My initial response, after putting down Brawl was to think to myself, “What was that all about?” While entertaining, both stories in Brawl, “Immortal” and “Panorama”, leave the reader with the feeling that a great deal more was going on than was directly on the page. If you’re looking for something out of the ordinary, with a bit of David Lynch flair, than Brawl is definitely for you.
The first story, “Immortal” revolves around Billy and Jane, a couple of super-humans that have a fiery, passionate, confrontational, and possible dangerous relationship. However, these two aren’t on the super-tights beat, but fall somewhere between mythology and noir. They certainly are super, capable of throwing each other through walls and bending bars of steal, but they have more in common with Mike Hammer than Superman. The dialogue in this story is the best example of this. The curses are decidedly anachronistic, sounding like something out of a Dick Tracy strip. Alternately, it is strangely epic, such as when one point the ground cracks open and Jane asks her beau, “What has our love wrought?” It’s as if Mickey Spillane and Euripides collaborated on an existential super-hero comic.
When the ground does split open, the book begins to develop a plot, although it is as every bit as strange as the rest of the book. It involves a giant man-thing that swallows Billy whole where he discovers the backstory to the titular immortal by reading it from hieroglyphs off the walls of its intestines.
Yes, you read that right. The art, in its own way, is equally incongruous as it looks like it belongs to an earlier time when comics were considered simple things, not capable of delivering an abstract story such as “Immortal”. However, much like the dialogue, the art serves the story well, just not in any fashion the reader will be able to immediately puzzle out.
“Panorama”, the second story, is equally strange and considerably more repulsive. Augustus is a boy on the verge of adulthood that is trying to get to Copra City. Of course, given that the story starts off with Augustus inexplicably falling from a ledge and no backstory, the reader has no idea why he’s heading to Copra City. However, his need to take a dump leads to some trouble and then an event that calls into question if Augustus is even human. The story, which begins as a rather mundane one of a runaway in the big city, quickly turns psychedelic and just keeps on turning. Augustus demonstrates grotesque flesh distorting powers of which he does not seem to be aware. In what might be some sort of horrible parallel for puberty, these powers seem to be beyond his control as his body rages and changes, even as Augustus seeks independence from whatever he’s running away from. While in its own way, “Panorama” seems more coherent than “Immortal”, it most definitely feels as if the reader has been dropped into the middle of an existing story.
Brawl certainly won’t be for everyone, but that’s part of its charm. If you’re looking for a book that will challenge you, you should pick this one up. Be prepared to be puzzled, to be disgusted and to crack a smile or two.
If you liked this review, be sure to check out more of the author’s work at http://madbastard.hypersites.com
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