53/111 - Demo 2 by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan

I received this as a Christmas present from Luke, and it's been quite a few years since I read the first volume, which I'd now like to take another look at. The two volumes don't appear to be linked in any way, but this one reminded me how much I liked the other one, even though this one was not quite as good.

There was nothing wrong with the quality of the storytelling or the artwork, however there were only a measly six issues in this volume, whereas the first volume has around 12-14, I believe. This one was also printed on glossy paper, which I didn't really like as much, but is really nothing to do with the content.

The last volume consisted of a series of vignettes of different, unrelated characters who have some sort of dark secret or special ability, sometimes something relatively inconsequential. They are moody and quirky, and sometimes dark and sometimes a little funny, too. Usually they are characters who are alone and angsty and disconnected from other people and from their lives. Drifters. This volume is much the same.

My favourite story was probably the one about the skinny guy who you discover is surviving on eating human flesh, and must ration it out and feels unable to eat anything else, for unknown reasons. A girl in his office likes him, and after an unsuccessful date, he turns to auto-cannibalism in an effort to kick the habit.

I also liked the story about the married couple who have to stay together, because they're like magnets and when they're apart, they suffer and bleed, however they also can't get too close to one another and repel each other. A little questionable science on that one, perhaps, but that's okay.

One of the things I love about the Demo series is how it acts like a little snapshot of someone's life, and it's very clean and simple. There's no huge long explanations or overwhelming dialogue, often there's no explanation for the circumstances, but I like that sense of mystery a lot. I'm not sure if there's more in the pipeline for the Demo series, but there are definitely some characters I'd like to see more of.

I feel like this blog isn't really going anywhere much at the moment. I'm glad that I'm reading more again, and I'm glad that I'm writing more in this blog again, but I feel like the quality is pretty low and pretty crappy, but you have to start somewhere, right?

Next: Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King