Local by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly

Maybe I'm just a sucker for emo comics.

Brian Wood is another guy that I never bothered to read. The early works I saw, like Channel Zero, never struck my fancy. I read Pounded, but it smacked of trying to hard. The blurbs that I read about Demo always sounded interesting, but whenever I grabbed the books themselves I was just kinda, "ehh", but now that I'm a Becky Cloonan convert as well it might be worth another shot. Local, though, looked good enough from the solicitation that I tried it out blind when it came out even though I didn't bother with DMZ or Supermarket.

I've enjoyed this series very much. The art is consistently strong. There are a few hinky panels here and there, but Ryan Kelly strikes a nice balance between his fast and loose brush and his tight layouts. He does a great job varying the shots -- even though it tends to be page after page of talking heads -- without ever giving the sense that he's cribbing from Wally Wood's "22 Panels." I look forward to more work from this artist and think that he might grow into a comics strong-man.

There is a self imposed stylistic decision to set each issue in a different North American city or community, and the series so far is mostly about one character, but each issue is told as a standalone as well. I'm not sure if that should be a selling point for a limited series, but if you're on the fence, any issue is a fine starting point and there's no need to go back to the first issue.

(Does anyone even buy comics anymore unless they know whether or not they're going to like it. And I don't mean first issues, would anyone out there just pick up the 6th issue of an ongoing series just to see if it fits their taste. I've got to imagine that most of you would either read an issue in the comic shop or read enough to know that you're going to buy the trade when it comes out.)

The stories do feel like they are building to the finish, and the supplemental material in this issue (6 is the most recent at the time of writing) says as much. Brian Wood admits that this stand alone story does contain some reference to previous issues, but I think that they are minor, and only add to the depth that Wood is trying to create. I will say this as warning: If you are turned off by the idea of a comic about a 20-something who is trying to find her way, stay away from this book.

Maybe I'm just a sucker for emo comics.