Last week a trip to my library netted me a trio of items: volume 1 of Jeff Lemire’s Sweet Tooth and DVDs of Torchwood Children of Earth, and cult favorite Firefly. I took advantage of the dollar pricing when Vertigo released the first issue of Lemire’s series and while I found the premise in which the only children born in a post apocalyptic world are human/ animal hybrids to be interesting, it didn’t strike me enough to rouse my curiosity to put it on my pull list. Gus is a nine year old boy with the antlers and other deer attributes. As the story opens his entire life has been spent with his religious father living in near total isolation in a cabin in the woods. Evidence of the outside world in the form of candy bars begins to appear, and the temptation is too much for the boy who’s sustenance has come from his father’s meager garden. Like Bambi before him, Gus is left to his own devices when his father dies from some infection (as will every adult) that’s related to the unknown apocalypse. Gus’ life is further spun out of control when a pair of hunters find him and he’s in turn rescued by the mysterious, grizzled Jeppard, and they set off across the devastated countryside in search of “The Preserve” and find themselves in a few unnerving and dangerous situations with unsavory locals. This Preserve has the mystique of being a safe haven for mutant children, but the fact is quite the opposite and Jeppard is more mercenary than savior. Or is he? That’s the question left by the cliffhanger ending.
Based on the collection I believe Sweet Tooth probably reads better in trade format. I can’t recall reading any of Lemire’s previous indy work so I’m unaware if his indy styled ideas are written so sparsely, especially in comparison to his Atom stories which are positively chockful of words in comparison. I found myself zipping through each chapter, not from anticipation, but because the dialog is lean and Lemire’s art here didn’t provide me with enough stopping points to slow down. It isn’t that the premise and characters are bad. They’re not. In the month before this though I’d eagerly plowed through The Walking Dead Compendium and the two following trades and its emotional impact is still fresh enough to color my perception of Sweet Tooth. I’ll give future volumes a read and give Lemire’s The Nobody and Essex County a try.
For the past few months I’ve got my dose of Torchwood from Titan’s comic but the artistry of Pia Guera and Tommy Lee Edwards has only made me want to watch the episodes again. I love Barrowman’s Jack and Ianto is no stale Jaffa Cake either, but until I buy the DVDs I’ll have to share them with the other guys and gals in town. So for now it’s Children of Earth and damn! it’s wrenching to watch knowing what’s in store for Ianto and Jack. As much as I hate what happened, I think throwing out many of the rules that make so many TV shows (and comics) stodgy was a smart approach.
Firefly rounds out my library haul. Nathan Fillion is another actor that lives in my fantasy world. Sure, new episodes of Castle provide a weekly dose of impish grins and sexy eyes but there’s not a lot of physical action unless it’s running to/ from a crime scene or shooting at criminals.
Excuse me while I contemplate how a Fillion appearance on Torchwood might play out.
