Plutona

So, I kept hearing about how good Jeff Lemire is at writing comic books. Specifically, those who hyped up his work to me were talking about his book called Descender. So I flipped through the trade paper back of Descender at the Vault of Midnight. I must say, as deplorable as it may seem to some, the artwork does factor into my decision when choosing to pick of a book or not. Of course I am not suggesting that Dustin Nguyen’s art was bad, because if anything, it is stellar. But something did not feel right to me. It just did not pull me in. Also, I think I left that book on the shelf because I was all sci-fied out at the time. By “at the time”, I mean like, last week.

But I figured that there must be something else that Lemire wrote. There is no way that Descender was his breakout book. Turns out he did some books for DC, Marvel, Vertigo, and Valiant…basically…every other major publisher besides Image. Call me closed minded, but I was not ready to venture outside of Image, especially not into the daunting cluster fuck of a world that is DC and Marvel.

That is when I found Plutona, a new series co-created by Lemire and Emi Lenox, the latter of whom did the art. Lets just cut the story short and just say I dug the art and picked it up right away. Whenever I see an artist capture nuanced emotion in each panel, I just sit back in awe. These are the artists that really know how to observe people. The colors by Jordie Bellaire also contribute to the book by creating a light atmosphere that at once makes you happy, but also creates dread. Something is wrong and the art makes you feel it. A subtle uneasiness.

Of course you know something is wrong from the very beginning. But that is not what I am talking about. On that note, let me talk about the story. Lemire knows that this story is not about the dead superhero, it is about the five children that find her dead body lying in the middle of a vast forest. The world does not overshadow the characters, in other words, these characters just happen to be in a world where super heroes exist. A compelling character can be placed in any setting and they will remain true. Believe me, the characters are very compelling. Sure there may be some archetypes, reminding me of the experience of watching Goonies or The Breakfast Club, but there is an ambiguity about their characterization that makes you wonder which direction they will go.

This does beg the question though, how important is it for super heroes to exist in this book? I am not sure if I can answer the question at this moment because I have only read the first issue. But I do think the book itself is suggesting an answer starting from its debut. Plutona, the superhero, is seen dead from the first page. But the way Lenox draws the panels makes her body feel like an object, using various angles to observe specific parts of her body, never forgetting to include flies to suggest the time that has gone by. Plutona is established as if she is an inanimate object, the way some manga establish a house, with various angles. Then the next page is a view of the vast forest, where presumably, the body is. Superheroes may exist in this world, but they are far removed from our characters. The one character that has any proximity to them from the start, only knows about their activity through the radio and the Internet. He is also seen looking at the city through binoculars while keeping a log of any superhero sightings. Then there is another character that shows some interest about superheroes but other than that, nobody else seems to care.

This gives Lemire space to build the characters that are important, the kids. He puts Plutona in the background from the beginning – which in itself is genius, because like I said about the art, by having the knowledge of the dead superhero at the back of your head, it constantly nags at you as you find out about the kids. I think it is important that this book has superheroes in it, because the story is setting up a world that mirrors our own. What are superheroes to us? Sure they do not exist in our world, but at the same time they do. We read about them, we consume them. Lemire has a little vignette at the end of the book (That features a different art style. I believe he did the art for it) where he gives a little backstory on Plutona. It feels distant, almost foreign, like it does not belong. But at the same time, it demands to be seen, it demands to emerge into the foreground.

Ya, I see what the hype is about now. Lemire knows how to write and I do see myself picking up Descender sometime in the future (haha…future…cause it is a sci-fi book…never mind).