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Since the thread that was started when JENNIE ONE was announced degenerated pretty quickly into the pros and cons of Brian Wood in general (at least 50% my fault), I thought I’d start a new one for discussion of this graphic novel in case anyone else has bought and/or read it. Hey, it’s only about £7 in the UK!
When this was first announced, I was a big fan of Brian Wood’s work, having read Channel Zero and Couscous Express, but two weak miniseries have tempered that opinion somewhat since then. However, at the same time, more and more previews of Becky Cloonan’s art from this book and elsewhere have been available to view online. The end result was that when I bought Jennie One, I did so largely for the art.
I wasn’t disappointed in that regard, f’sho. Although there are panels and pages where you get the sense that Becky Cloonan is still feeling around to find the style(s) that work best for her*, you can also tell how much talent she has right now, and how much potential, too. In the introduction, Wood states that “Jennie One is custom-built for her talents and sensibilities”, and I think you can see that it works. I wish to God more collaborations in comics worked like that.
Okay, couple of things about the story for anyone who *has* read this, and oddly enough the elements I want to discuss might relate to certain preemptive criticisms as well... First up: Kurt. I think Kurt is perhaps the most interesting character in this book, in that he can be taken as representing both a certain kind of very likely reader and (unless I'm stretching hugely) one of the creators (Wood). I think there’s two elements to this, and though they overlap they’re basically distinct. One is about sex. This is a book in which gaps between chapters are marked by full-page, lovingly rendered drawings of the heroine’s increasingly tattooed body. I don’t think this is hyprocrisy – the connections are too blatant. “I love your tattoos.” “I know you do.” Besides, it fits too nicely with the other auto-critique going on here, which is that Kurt is a cushy, compromised capitalist, because his idea of rebelling is to immerse himself in alt/punk/fringe culture which is still a form of consumption. Well, if you buy JENNIE ONE, you're doing the same thing, right?
This is much less compromised or ambiguous view of that kind of culture than was found in Pounded – as clearly demonstrated by the scene where Jennie looks at the pictures of Hot Punk Chixx in Kurt’s wallet and declares “Fucking asshole”. Now, some would argue that keeping photos of people you’ve slept with in your wallet is much less of an asshole thing to do than stealing the wallet, clothes and laptop of someone who just helped you out. But this is the thing about revolutionary hero figures. The revolutionary hero figure is always the one who does the things everybody else cannot or will not do. And yet, Jennie is perfectly willing on using the facts that Kurt is attracted to her and has money to her advantage... much like Wood (& Cloonan) will happily take your money even if you bought this vuz you like punk girls with tattoos and you think you can be a rebel by buying a graphic novel (why u lookin' at me?). Maybe this analogy over-reaches, but I don't think so. Point is: it's all very knowing/self-aware/self-questioning, which is usually good...
Next up: the political/social comment angle. One of the more common criticisms of Channel Zero that I’ve seen is that the view of the future contained therein was naïve and improbable – and in 1997, when it was written, and even in June 2001, when the edition I have was published, I think it did seem that way, especially from a European perspective. Who really believed that the Christian right-wing were going to seize power in America and impose severe restrictions of freedom of speech?
And now here we are with Ashcroft, Homeland Security, the post-9/11 cultural climate, the US V Europe divide... Suddenly CZ is not so out there. So with the prequel, Wood gets to play this up even more - not so much "I told you so" as "Shiiiiiiit! It's actually happening!". Because it's set in a time that is part past (Guiliani is still mayor of NY) and part dystopian future, JENNIE ONE hits upon and atmosphere that feels like a barely exaggerated version of the present. Specifically the chapter with the gasmask – all that talk of “Threat Level Seven” strikes a chord that’s very redolent of London in early 03, except we don’t even get anything as concrete as a number, we’re just told that yeah, probably the tube will be gassed at some point, and yeah, pursuing a war with Iraq will make that even more likely but yeah, we’re still gonna do it anyway… But I digress. The point is, the vision of NYC here almosts makes me more depressed about the way things are in reality, because some of the 'dystopian' elements in the fiction are actually much missed in the here and now. IE: we’re not rioting in the street every day, but we probably should be.
Okay, rant over, throw rotten eggs and tell me Brian Wood is LAME now, or if anyone's read this too, gimme yr thoughts...
*One of the things I like that Cloonan does in this book is to give each of the ‘chapters’ its own signature visual style. My particular favourite has to be the ‘gasmask’ chapter mentioned above, and from that, the stand-out page has to be the one that is handily available in part online, reproduced below.
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