Review: "Demo: The Collected Edition"

Demo: The Collected Edition by Brian Wood & Becky Cloonan
3 out of 5 stars

I think I should have liked this more than I did. Brian Wood did New York Four & Five, which I enjoyed a lot, and Demo has a similar feel to that. All the stories are connected to New York City and center around young people (late teens/early twenties) going thru identity crises in some way or another. So it has all the right ingredients for me to love it...but. But, I just didn't connect to the stories. I've never had a problem reading an anthology or trade paperback edition of graphic novels, in fact I prefer it so I don't have to wait. Demo is the first one that I've come across where that is a negative thing. The stories are not connected to each other, which I was expecting, so reading them one after the other didn't let them sink in. I would have done much better reading one a night, so that is my advice to you! And now let's look at a few of my favorite stories in particular.

All the teens have super powers of some sort or another. Some of them are very subtle or never fully explained. In my opinion, several of the stories would have done great as full length graphic novels. For example, Emmy is a young girl who stops speaking after she realizes her words have power...real power. People listen when she speaks and sometimes there are deadly consequences. And in "Bad Blood", Samantha not only has to deal with her estranged dad's sudden death, but she finds herself strangely attracted to her half-brother and must deal with a surprising family secret.

"Girl You Want" confronts the stereotypical images that people (mainly men in the story) see in a youngish, seemingly single girl. The heart of this story, that people see what they want to see, really gets to you when you start thinking about it. As does "Mixtape", about a man who must come to terms with his girlfriend's suicide thru a mixtape last note she made him.

And finally there's my personal favorite, "Midnight to Six", or better named "The Slacker Pledge". Who hasn't had that feeling of utter slacker-dom in their twenties (thirties...) where they just want to do enough of their job to squeak by and get it over with? Three teens sign a pledge to always do the bare minimum, so as to live life to its fullest. Ten years later, they're still doing the exact same thing, but for two of the friends, that's not enough anymore.  

"If wanting a better life for myself makes me a fascist, whatever. I'll accept that."

Review: "The New York Four & Five"

The New York Four & Five series by Brian Wood & Ryan Kelly
3.5 stars together

I'd been looking forward to the sequel of this NY-based graphic novel for a long time, so when I finally ordered it on Amazon recently, I had an afternoon of fun reading. :) This first book, The New York Four, was part of the Minx line of comics with DC. Minx was started up in 2007 and was geared towards teen/YA girls and unfortunately only lasted about a year. I was really sad to see it go away because I had enjoyed most of the books in the line and thought it was a good thing. If you are into graphic novels or know someone who is (especially a young girl), I highly encourage you to check out some of these titles! My favorites were probably The Plain Janes (and its sequel, Janes in Love) and Good as Lily.

The New York Four is basically a "coming of age" story about a young girl named Riley who is starting her freshman year at NYU. She is incredibly shy and introverted, but has convinced her parents to let her go to the city for school. She has an ulterior motive though...she wants to reconnect with her outcast sister, who was banished from their family several years before for doing something "unthinkably bad". Riley has a serious attachment to her cellphone and is constantly texting and such, to the point of ostracizing herself from her classmates. When her sister calls her out on it, after being repeatedly ignored, Riley realizes that maybe she should step back a little and learn to socialize.

She becomes friends with 3 other girls from class after running into them at a coffee shop and hearing their complaints about not having any money or a place to live off campus. Riley tells them about a program for beta-testers and all they have to do is talk to a psychiatrist a few times a month. These talks are interspersed throughout the 2 books and we get a good look at what is really going on in the girls' lives, not just what they are choosing to show. She also might have an apartment, thanks to her sister's boyfriend. The 4 girls become fast friends, even though they are all very different.

The artwork in these 2 books is really amazing, that was one of my favorite things about them. There are little info-boxes throughout the story about NYC and all the "cool, hip" places to be. Some might find this irritating, it does lean towards being "hipsterish" if you know what I mean, but I didn't think it was awful. The story was decent, but I really think it would have been better as a longer series. We just get the surface of who these girls are and I think there could have been a lot more to them. The first one ends on a huge cliffhanger, so be sure to have the second ready and waiting!

In New York Five, we pick up pretty much where the first ended. There is a new girl that infiltrates the core group in a pretty surprising way, which I am not going to spoil here! :) Things aren't going as well for the girls in this one...we've got boyfriend problems (lots of boyfriends and lots of problems), family issues, school, work, and even a little stalking.


I feel like this is a series that most girls can relate to on some level or another. Who hasn't had the feeling that things are spiraling out of control and there's no way to stop it? Or that you really want to be with this guy and think he's totally awesome and into you, despite all the signs that he so is not and all your friends know it? Or that you are never going to be a "real" grown up, despite being well into your twenties (or thirties, like me lol). I have big issues with this last one, obviously. Do grown ups read Baby-Sitters Club books or play with toys or eat mac & cheese for dinner? Because, I don't think I want to be a grown up if they don't.