Moon and Ba’s Daytripper

Fabio Moon’s and Gabriel Ba’s Daytripper (Vertigo) must be the most moving, human comic series out there at the moment. Not to mention one of the best looking comics in quite a while. Each issue of Daytripper focuses on a particular year in the life of Bras de Oliva Domingos. At the end of each issue, Bras dies. One would think that, given the concept, there would be no point in reading past the first couple of issues, but the damn book gets better and better.

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Moon manages to draw the reader in incredibly effortlessly, focusing on simple, everyday scenes and recognisable, relatable characters. Even though you know the outcome you can’t help but be really affected by Bras’ death every time. The pace is exemplary and Moon develops each chapter magnificently.

I don’t know if Daytripper would have such an impression on me if it hadn’t been for the combination of Moon’s stories and Ba’s artwork. He first came to my attention with Casanova (Image), written by Matt Fraction. This time, his art is being coloured by the amazing Dave Stewart and I find it considerably more appealing. Stewart’s palette complements both Ba’s idiosyncratic artwork ad Moon’s wistful tone.

It feels great to see Vertigo putting out some great titles again and it’s a shame that some of them are being so criminally overlooked, like the excellent Exterminators. Besides Daytripper, series like Air, Unwritten, DMZ and Sweet Tooth are more than welcome alternatives to the slop that’s out there.

Adam Roberts – New Model Army

I have to admit that I came to this one slightly biased. I haven’t really liked anything I’ve read by Roberts in the past and even though I was hoping this would change, it didn’t…

New Model Army has an interesting premise: that free-thinking individuals can assemble and form an army with no hierarchical structure or chain of command. Rather, they can communicate in real time, via wikis, where each member can contribute opinions, and fight by navigating the terrain through Google Maps. In true anarchist fashion they don’t have specialisms, so there is no sense of inequality. They download information on different topics and they train as medics, negotiators, soldiers etc., all at once. Being non-hierarchical and highly mobile, they can evade capture by simply disbanding and going back to civilian life. They can adjust their tactics rapidly, thus maintaining an advantage over traditional armies which are slow to react because of their rigid hierarchical systems.

Most of the story is narrated by a member of such an army, which is incidentally caled Pantegral, in language full of similes, as well as numerous references to both popular culture (games, tv shows, music etc) and critical theory, philosophy etc. A bottle of wine lays “Humpty-Dumptied”, while a heavy wooden door looks “like the monolith in 2001″. And that’s where the trouble starts. Roberts has to resort to making his narrator a university graduate in order to justify the constant flow of academic references. He doesn’t wear his erudition lightly. The novel ends up feeling so self-indulgent and exhibitionist that the few moments of insight and interest collapse under the burden of artificial and heavy-handed similes and allusions. What’s more, the whole thing feels contrived and forced, especially when compared to other near-future SF like en MacLeod’s The Execution Channel, Ian McDonald’s River of Gods or William Gibson’s Spook Country. Roberts’ language has never sounded as effortless as Gibson’s or McDonald’s.

The reader leaves New Model Army feeling overwhelmed rather than exhilarated by the concept, which is a major problem in all of the novels that I have read by Roberts and a damn shame because his ideas are usually terribly interesting. However, the concept on its own,no matter how interesting it may appear at first, cannot maintain the reader’s interest unless the writing is good enough as well. Roberts’ writing isn’t tailored to serve his themes. His pointless desire to dazzle with erudition shines through every time, leaving the reader feel patronised and confused.