Local by Brian Wood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book deserves all the hype it’s gotten. The total package, from start to finish, is an evolution in every sense of the word–the evolution of the character, the writing, the art, even the series concept. And I could tell that even before I read as much in the backmatter.
The main character, Megan, sums up her story and the point of the book (not just as a whole, but in each of the interconnected stories in each issue) thus:
You need to do what’s best for you, even if it means leaving some people behind, burning some bridges, severing some ties. You’ll never forgive yourself if you don’t. You only get one shot. Take it when you can, and don’t blow it.
This sort of advice can only be given by someone who did just that, and who took shots and actually did blow them sometimes. Most writers fall back into the grosser antisocial behaviors–alcholism, drug use, and other Raymond Carver-type stuff–to illustrate dirty and gritty. Here, Wood & Kelly show that the pain of just making mistakes and learning from them can be just as dramatic.