Writer: Christian Westerlund
Artist: Robert Nazeby Herzig
Publisher: NBM Comics Lit
It’s hard to tell what to make of this book; it’s a supernatural story about the afterlife with a little bit of philosophy and kind of a horror bent. The story is about a young man named Joshua Barker who committed suicide and ended up in a drab afterlife full of lethargic homeless people and oddball characters looking for God. There seems to be something special about Joshua; people keep finding Polaroid photos of him in the gutters that feature some sort of glow around his head--indicating that he has some sort of holy significance.
A guy named Elmer recruits him to go on a journey to find God, but although they encounter some angels (who take the form of goth chicks), they don’t find him. Later, they are joined by a prostitute who wears nothing but electrical-tape Xs on her nipples and a Sandman-style gas mask. They’re also joined by an insane guy who seems to be modeled on comics writer Grant Morrison, and who wants to to find God so he can kill Him.
It’s a very bleak vision of life after death (especially when it’s revealed to be Heaven), with no pleasure or suffering; no feeling at all, really. It seems to be a bit of a condemnation of the idea of an afterlife (or a God, even), based on the idea that the loss of pleasure, pain, or any sort of feeling would lead to apathy; life wouldn’t have any meaning if you don’t have to worry about death. People in this afterlife seem to do little more than sit in the streets or frequent prostitutes in an attempt to feel something, anything. Joshua’s appearance seems to give some hope to some of them; hope that things might be different, that some feeling will come back into their world. Or, in the case of the murderous guy, hope that they can wipe out the whole ugly place.
Another interpretation could be that the various characters represent aspects of Joshua’s psyche, and the whole thing is happening in his head (or lack thereof, after he blew it off). The prostitute shares his predilection for self-cutting (and, judging by how she is drawn, his anorexia), and the crazy guy seems to be everything he’s not--a sort of wish-fulfillment figure.
Whatever the case, it’s an interesting book, but it’s pretty hard to follow. Robert Nazeby Herzig’s art adds to the atmosphere with freakish, angular, elongated characters and rubble-strewn environments. The captions are also pretty effective, outlined with smudged white lines that stand out against the dim artwork--and the word balloons have strange, squiggly “trails” that make dialogue seem like it’s barely audible. These aspects all add up to some fascinating, otherworldly visuals. However, this aspect often makes the action hard to follow as well--but that difficulty mostly comes from the script, which leaves so much up to interpretation that there’s barely even a story.
So while it’s an interesting book, I can’t really recommend it unless you’re better at figuring out this sort of thing than I am. It’s got a unique look and feel to it, and since both creators are young, they will probably go on to create some really interesting comics. However, this one isn’t quite their masterpiece; hopefully, that is yet to come.
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