Sweet Tooth #24 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (creator), Jose Villarrubia (colorist)

The Story: Somebody tell me this isn’t death and I’m just trippin’.

The Review: One of the most inadequately written scenes in Flashpoint: The World of Flashpoint #3 involves Traci 13, spear in her gut, internally commenting, “So this is what dying is like.”  The line is effectively sterile, since she never tells us what part of death she’s experiencing.  Not that you can really blame writer Rex Ogle for avoiding the description; as a state of being few of us come back from, death can be rather difficult to write, to say the least.

So rather than talk about it with words, Lemire shows us death through Gus, who in the throes of his draining life journeys through an eerie, very primal landscape, filled with the corpses of his fellow Hybrids.  An animated, skeletal stag serves as a guide, and his few words are thought, not spoken, commanding Gus to see certain things, yet never enlightening him on what he sees.  It all feels like an Aborigine dream vision, in keeping with the title’s naturalistic spiritualism.

A lot of the imagery involves macabre scenes featuring Hybrids in the most wretched, tragic aftermaths of death, perhaps emphasizing the futility of living as one.  The scenes also suggest that Hybrids, despite being the offspring of humans and possessing human features, are still separate from humanity, as Gus sees a hanging grounds filled only with Hybrid remains, swaying from the treetops.  These are clearly visions intended to pain Gus exclusively.

Sweet Tooth #22 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (creator), Jose Villarrubia (colorist)

The Story: “Shoot first, ask later” seems to be the rule of thumb in this world.

The Review: In my review of Fables #104, I mentioned the difficulties in jumping into the middle any series.  So it was with some trepidation I waded into Sweet Tooth, which hasn’t really been around for that long and yet by most accounts has already taken on a rich life of its own.  A couple people warned me the impact of the story would be lost without some familiarity with the ongoing plot.  And so I expected to read the issue and come out completely puzzled.

It’s rather a waste to have all that concern over nothing, as Lemire makes this issue (as I suspect he makes every issue) quite a cinch to hop in with no prior knowledge whatsoever.  While over on Superboy, I frequently noted the occasional blandness he gives the cast, the characters in his own title pop with vibrant personality: tough cynic Jepperd, strong-willed Lucy, antsy Dr. Singh.  The moment they open their mouths, you get a firm grasp on who these people are.

Nowhere does this come through more clearly than in Lucy and Jepperd’s volatile interactions.  Given how obviously tough each of them is (their fatally accurate marksmanship says as much), their relationship can’t be anything but edgy at the best of times, but it speaks volumes when he ventures, “You can’t really be mad at me?”  For a gruff like Jepperd to be sensitive to Lucy’s feelings shows there’s a heart of gold beneath his rugged and scarred exterior.

Lemire also makes it easy to catch on not only to the overall plot (group on the run searching for sanctuary), but the major conflict at hand as well.  This ragtag bunch has clearly been through some harrowing experiences on their journey, so the idea of finding sanctuary that much sooner no doubt poses serious temptations.

But the timing of it all seems a little too perfect to really trust haven-provider Walter’s motives.  Though he insists to Jepperd and Lucy that the woodland rangers are dangerous, to get the duo to shoot the men from behind seems suspiciously hasty, as does persuading the group to come back to his place for the night before they think of investigating the bodies.  In doing so, they miss a vital clue to their quest, as Lemire explicitly points out in the final panel.

Sweet Tooth #19 – Review

by Jeff Lemire (writer & artist), Nate Powell, Emi Lenox, & Matt Kindt (art), Jose Villarrubia (colors), and Patrick Brosseau (letters)

The Story: Lucy, Becky, and Wendy share their histories with one another as they wander through the forest.

The Review: One certainly can’t fault Jeff Lemire for not taking creative risks with Sweet Tooth.  Last month we got a landscape-styled “storybook” issue and this month we have Lemire bring along three indie cartoonists to help illustrate three separate tales and, much as was the case last month, he makes gold out of what could have been a disaster.

Given that it’s the main attraction this month, the art seems a fitting place to start.  All three guest artists, and Lemire himself, have incredibly different styles.  Yet, it really, really works as each artist was masterfully chosen for each particular story he or she illustrates.  Each artist has a very unique look, but it suits the stories of the particular characters they illustrate beautifully.  Nate Powell’s more mundane, slice-of-life look on Lucy’s previous life as a married nurse, Emi Lenox’s tragic Saturday-morning cartoon take on Becky’s childhood, or Matt Kindt’s dreamy, surreal storybook take on Wendy’s life with Mom.  Each artist brings something unique to the table and each gives a certain life to their part of the issue, what that highlights the tone Lemire that was going for in each little story.