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Drugs! Decapitation! And the Spiders from Mars? No, this isn't the reimagining of the famous Ziggy Stardust album. It's David Lapham's latest comic "Young Liars."
This comic is dark. It isn't like Dimmu Borgir dark. No, it's more along the lines of schizophrenic-drug-addicted dark.
No one is doing anything positive for themselves or others for that matter. I look at it like I look at the TV show "Cops:" nothing good is happening to these people, and it makes me feel better about myself knowing I'm not them.
The comic is on its 16th issue and centers around six twentysomethings who live in New York City. The main characters are Danny the emotional coward, his love interest Sadie, Annie X the anorexic model, Big C the slut, Runco the scheming prick and Donnie the heroin addicted cross-dresser.
The beginning of the series starts out relatively normal. Danny is in love with his boss's daughter Sadie. He convinces her to run away to New York City with him and start a rock band. They do this, but the problem is that Sadie doesn't love Danny as he loves her.
In fact, she has put Danny in the "friend zone" and sleeps around, making him angry and jealous. That is about the most normal part of the story.
Early on it is discovered by the reader that Sadie is quite unusual, which might have something to do with the bullet lodged in her brain. Of course, the question on everyone's mind is who shot her? Well Danny, of course, did it in a drunken-jealous rage.
This is all unveiled in the first issue. This is only pertinent to why Sadie behaves the way she does, like her almost insatiable urge to beat the crap out of people.
The real story begins when Runco tells the group about a painting, which supposedly belongs to his family, and he wants to "reclaim." The story starts off well enough, but takes a surreal twist and quickly spirals out of control. People start loosing their heads, drugs are consumed and one of them may or may not be an alien space spider from Mars.
This unfortunate group is brought to life by Lapham's writing and art. Both of these aspects are done well. Lapham's writing really makes these characters seem real, and the more the comic is read, the more it starts to feel like the main characters could actually exist.
Another great element of the story is that Lapham suggests a song to listen to while reading each issue. The idea of having a soundtrack to read along to seems novel, but music is a relevant theme throughout the story. Sadie and Danny have a band together; the story opens in a concert; and much of the narration are lyrics Danny has written.
Now the art, which I feel is suitable for the story, is more or less basic. Lapham draws everything in proportion. He does not use abstract or surreal art, but there are some dream sequences where the surreal is appropriately used. For the most part, even when faced with castrating midgets, the art sticks to its realistic style.
"Young Liars" is a very entertaining, but dark and hard to swallow comic. This book is not for everyone, but I would definitely suggest it to fans of Steven T. Seagle's "American Virgin" or Garth Ennis' "Preacher."
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