Radiant Comics

I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got one new comic plus a hard cover collection:

Captain America – 601 (I bought this because of the excellent Gene Colan art printed from his pencils)

Creepy Archives Volume 4

And now for a review of something I’ve read recently.

“Young Liars Volume 1: Daydream Believer” by David Lapham

Here is a series that I didn’t even know existed until about issue five. I usually buy Lapham’s stuff but missed out on this one until now. Probably because it’s a Vertigo comic. I’m used to ignoring Vertigo comics because I don’t care much for them.

To summarize this volume all I have to say is, “Boy does David Lapham write some messed up comic books”. Messed up in a good way. Dysfunctional people, murder, drugs, mayhem, and madness fill this book in a way that only Lapham can pull off.

Gerard Way, in his introduction, said “I hated the characters as soon as I met them. I just knew it was only a matter of time before I loved them.” That pretty much hits the nail on the head.

What is weird though is that the characters don’t get any more lovable as the story goes on. They are all still screw-ups behaving badly. They just get more human as the story goes on. We learn about why they act as they do, how their bad actions haunt them, and how their regret doesn’t matter because they still can’t control things.

The basic story revolves around Sadie and Danny. Before the story started Sadie was shot and now has a bullet lodged in her brain. It’s going to kill her sooner or later but meanwhile she has lost her impulse control. Danny is the boy from Sadie’s home town who loves her but isn’t loved back. He watches out for Sadie and is a bit of a sap but is really a bit crazy too. He is more trouble than he seems.

A transvestite, a too skinny ex-model, a rock ‘n roll groupie, and a ne-er-do-well rich kid round out the cast. The rest of the plot is too crazy and convoluted to go into but it’s good. This might be the most fantastic plot that Lapham’s come up with. It stretches believability at times but clearly that’s what he’s after. There is a lot of craziness going on.

I’m glad I finally got around to reading this one. I enjoyed it a lot and think I liked it better than “Silverfish” which was the last thing of his I read. Give it a read if you’re a Lapham fan or a fan of comics about messed up people getting into too much trouble. Just don’t expect to find any redemption.