When it was first published in 2009, the idea of a disease that affects the entire world seemed like a fantasy but now it is fascinating to see how Lemire posits it would fundamentally change the world, mostly by bringing a new Adam into it. It’s like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road meets Stephen King’s Stand By Me. You know, your usual post-apocalyptic, coming-of-age story. This begins Gus’s somewhat violent journey to discover the truth of what he is and what role he has in the future of civilization. But Jepperd betrays Gus’s trust, turns him over to militants and scientists who believe that children like Gus are key to curing the disease that is killing everyone. Left alone, Gus is found by a surrogate father, Jepperd, and promised to be taken to a reserve that shelters children like him. Trying to protect Gus from whatever is out in the world, the two live in pastoral isolation until Gus’s father gets sick and passes away. Like any kid, Gus wondered what the world is like beyond the reaches of his woods but his father warned him not to go out that far. Gus, the boy with the antlers, was raised in a secluded cabin by his father, sheltered from the rest of the world. Boys with antlers and girls with pig noses were birthed into existence, cruel and unnatural defects that had to have shared some connection with all of the death. But as humanity was dying, another phenomenon was occurring at the same time children with animalistic qualities were being born. At least, that’s what was happening in North America Lemire doesn’t really address what was happening in the rest of the world. Its central premise is that people started getting sick nine years ago and dying from a mysterious illness. Jeff Lemire’s Sweet Tooth first came out in 2009 and lasted for about 4 years. Do we really need to read and watch another story about some kind of illness or virus ravaging the world? After the last sixteen months, any story that begins with a virus seems almost quaint in what they imagine a pandemic would be like while also serving as a grim reminder of what we just lived through.
Trying to enjoy entertainment which was created years ago that builds their central framework around the idea of a pandemic, using that as a starting point to explore the death and rebirth of civilizations, is just so strange now.
0 kommentar(er)
