ESSEX COUNTY volume 3

With the third volume of the Essex County Trilogy – all of which is collected in a single omnibus edition from Top Shelf, if you weren’t already aware of that – Jeff Lemire fulfills the creative promise exhibited in the first two volumes. Lemire’s storytelling is magnificent, the narrative touching, and he manages to pull everything together, despite the unorthodox manner in which he chose to tell this story. Lemire jumps back another two generations from the previous volume, showing us the roots of the LeBeuf family, which we discover is more closely tied to that of Anne Quenneville, the nurse who has taken care of Lou LeBeuf in his waning years.

There’s little more I can add that I haven’t already said about the first two volumes. This is a moving tale amplified by the evocative imagery provided by Lemire’s loose, yet consistent artwork. Essex County is one of the most moving comic stories I’ve read in a long time. I would challenge anyone to read this and not come away with the realization they had watched an amazing new talent emerge over the course of these three volumes.

Buy this book.

Read this book.

You will not be disappointed.

And then, once you’ve finally remedied that character flaw, check out the interview Comic Geek Speak did with him a couple years back. It’s really a great conversation, and will enhance your reading experience.

Enjoy,

chris

ESSEX COUNTY volume 2

In “Ghost Stories,” the second part of Jeff Lemire’s acclaimed Essex Country trilogy from Top Shelf Comics, readers follow the story of brothers Lou and Vince LeBeuf from their time playing amateur hockey together for the Toronto Grizzlies up until their final years. Lemire tells this story through flashbacks – seen from Lou’s contemporary point of view – and offsets it with Lou’s current struggle to keep his family farm, keep his independence (as a nurse comes in to help a few times a week), and the eventual inevitability of him moving into a nursing home.

The main plot is a fairly standard one – that of a rift between brothers over their mutual love of a single woman – but Lemire infuses the narrative with more soul and emotion than is in many of these tales. And, he does not take it in the direction one initially expects. What appears to be foreshadowing very early in the book is actually a result of Lou’s failing health and his inability to properly recall the memories of his life.

The most vivid, and most special, moments in Lou’s life revolve around his brother Vince, who was bigger and more skilled at hockey than Lou could ever hope. The year he shared a hockey line with Vince, when they led Toronto to the playoffs, burns bright on the horizon of his mind. This pivotal time in Lou’s life is also the point where things went so wrong for these two. And it all flows naturally from the characterizations of these LeBeuf brothers.

Lou’s fading health, as he cuts himself off from the rest of his family after the mistake made during that fateful year in Toronto, mirrors his emotional deterioration. It is notable that, once Vince and his fiancée Beth leave Toronto to return to the farm, Lou suffers a debilitating knee injury that ends his own hockey career. But, at that point, he cannot go home. So he remains in the city and finds a job driving a streetcar on the public transit lines of Toronto.

Eventually, Lou and Vince come together after a family tragedy. Things are uncomfortable, and the LeBeuf brothers are never able to recapture that special bond they once had. But they are there for each other, as well as for young Jimmy LeBeuf (whom we saw in the first volume of Essex County), whose limited hockey career is able to wipe the slate clean between these brothers, at least for the short time they are able to watch him play.

With this second part of his Essex County trilogy, Jeff Lemire continues to exhibit the skills of an artist of more advanced years. His pacing is pitch-perfect, teasing out the narrative in a manner that allows pieces of the puzzle to connect slowly until various points collide, bringing the entirety of the narrative into sharp focus.

And his artwork suffuses the story with such emotion, elevating it to another level. Lemire knows when to pull back and when to close in on a moment, evoking very authentic feelings that we all have experienced at one time or another. I continue to be amazed at the ease with which he paints these characters while swiftly engaging his audience and never letting go until the final page. I anxiously look forward to reading the final part of this landmark graphic novel. If you haven’t read this yet, you need to get out and find a copy. This is as good as it gets in comics.

Also, if you’re curious, my thoughts on the first part of Jeff Lemire’s Essex County Trilogy – “Tales From the Farm” – can be found here.

chris

ESSEX COUNTY vol. 1 by Jeff Lemire

Wow! I read the first volume of Jeff Lemire’s Essex Country trilogy, “Tales from the Farm,” last night (the entire thing is available in one handy volume from Top Shelf) and was completely enthralled. Lemire’s deft storytelling belies his relative inexperience at the time he wrote and drew this. Seriously amazing work.

The story takes place in Essex County in southwestern Ontario, where Lemire himself grew up. In this first chapter of the trilogy, readers meet Lester, a young boy who enjoys comic books and dresses up in his own makeshift costume to battle invading aliens in the back fields of the farm where he lives. Though not immediately evident, it is his Uncle Ken with whom Lester lives on the farm, and their relationship is strained at best.

Lemire, thankfully, does not spoon-feed his audience, allowing the narrative to reveal itself at a measured pace while keeping readers engaged in the story. Soon enough, one discovers that Lester recently lost his mother to cancer and does not remember his father. This, as much as anything, explains the divide between the boy and his uncle. It’s heartbreaking and authentic, and Lemire’s choice of imagery and spare dialogue convey this emotional chasm masterfully.

Through the course of this first chapter, readers follow this new family of two through a year on the farm, slowly learning more of their history. Lester befriends a local celebrity – Jimmy Lebeuf, who played a single game in the NHL for the Toronto Maple Leafs, wherein he suffered a career-ending injury – and finds the companionship he needs, at this time in his young life. Lester is comfortable with Jimmy, who enjoys discussing comic books with the boy and even dresses up in his old hockey uniform to help Lester battle his alien invaders. It’s a touching friendship, one made more sympathetic when Lester’s uncle warns Jimmy off, hinting at something more than just familial responsibility.

Lemire paces this first volume of his Essex County trilogy so beautifully, teasing out information, allowing readers to make the connections between these characters. His deft use of silent and repeating panels – all utilized to provide narrative beats or accentuate an emotional tenor within the story – help create an engaging graphic novel that had me enthralled from page one. And, when this volume reaches its climax, it is presented in such an understated manner that it will resonate with readers long after the book is closed.

Lemire’s raw, almost scratchy, brushwork adds an emotional layer that elevates this story. His work exemplifies the difference – and, in my opinion, the superiority – of cartooning over photo-realism, the current trend in “mainstream” comics. Lemire’s stark, expressive inks pull readers into this story, enveloping them in the raw emotions he is sharing through these characters. It’s a wonderful melding of art with words, showcasing what is possible in comics.

I understand, fully, why Essex County has received such widespread accolades, and I eagerly look forward to the next volume sitting on my to-read stack. If you haven’t read this book before, you need to seek it out. Now.

chris

WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME? Jeff Lemire’s Sweet Tooth

There’s no doubting that Jeff Lemire is a talented cartoonist and skilled storyteller. I have yet to read his Essex County trilogy – though I plan on remedying that fact soon enough – but I have read some short stories of his, as well as a preview of Essex County, and I have definitely been impressed. So, it was no surprise when Lemire leveraged the success of Essex County in order to place two projects with Vertigo Comics. I was very excited.

I have yet to read The Nobody, but I picked up the first two trades of his ongoing series, Sweet Tooth. I read the first collection and was impressed with the world-building he was doing. Dystopian future – check. Weird hybrids that might unlock the secret to a plague ravaging humanity – check. An over-arching mystery – check. Duplicitous characters who are more than one-dimensional ciphers – check. This book seemed ripe for my tastes.

But, to be honest, it just didn’t grab me. I started the second collection, but once I hit the halfway point (issue 8 of the overall series), I just stopped. The premise is good, the characters are fleshed out nicely – for what little time I spent with them – and the mystery is certainly a good foundation for the book. But ultimately, I didn’t care about the characters. I was not invested in them, and that made it difficult for me to continue reading.

Part of my problem is that, in reading Sweet Tooth, the book feels like stuff I’ve read before (of course Jepperd’s wife was going to be pregnant just as the plague was coming down on humanity) and the glacial pacing – which is the norm in comics now, I know – just sapped what enthusiasm I had for the book. I am curious if I might have appreciated this more if I’d read it in single issues. Would that month-long wait have added to the experience? I don’t know. But I do think reading this in a collected edition – where I could quickly move on to the next chapter – hampered my personal reading experience. I know I had the same reaction when I read the “Winter Soldier” arc of Ed Brubaker’s Captain America run. The decompression of the storytelling made it far less enjoyable for me, as well.

Which is not to say this is a bad comic. Not in the least. Lemire’s talent is in full effect within these pages. His expressive artistry is a wonder to behold. And some of the layouts are inspired – in particular, the moment when Jepperd kills Jacob, the pimp, with the butt of his rifle. That is a classic example of allowing readers to fill in the blanks and elevate the horror of the scene (the exact opposite of what was seen in the new Catwoman from DC comics, but I digress). The one aspect where Lemire’s expressive linework does not serve him well is in the action scenes. There’s no weight to his figures when they fight, no feeling of impact between them. But those scenes are few and far between, and it does not detract too much from the overall story. Add the coloring of Jose Villarrubia, which is stunning, and this is a top-notch book.

Ultimately, this just isn’t the book for me. Or maybe it’s not the book for – at this time. I’ve had similar experiences. When I was attending a monthly graphic novel discussion group at my local Borders (no longer open, obviously), one of the books chosen was Warren Ellis’s Transmetropolitan: Year of the Bastard. I remember having little good to say about that book. It just didn’t speak to me at the time. But now, years later, Transmetropolitan is one of my all-time favorite series, and one that I have read multiple times.

So, maybe I’ll return to Sweet Tooth at some point down the line and rediscover it the way I did TransMet. But, for now, I’ll move on to something else.

chris