"The thing that frightened people about hip hop was that they heard people enjoying rhythm for rhythm's sake."
- Max Roach
The debut issue of Local by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly is a nearly meditative, deceptively simple study in rhythm. By doing a dramatic turn on the Run, Lola, Run formula, Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly have come up with a debut issue that allows you to get to know a character through four versions of the same scene, each with a different outcome; Megan McKeenan is sent into a pharmacy with an obviously fake prescription provided by her junkie boyfriend.
Without giving too much away, Local's debut serves as more than a launch point for the quasi-sequel to Wood's collaboration with Becky Cloonan, Demo: it also manages to show how small changes in timing and approach can completely alter the future. Much like Lola, Wood's script doesn't pander or congratulate its cleverness. There's no burdensome expository narration on Megan�s's part - she never once says "But what if I had done...this?" or informs us of how much of a raving moron her boyfriend is.
Ryan Kelly's art has reminded me (since my first exposure to him in Giant Robot Warriors) of a cleaner Paul Pope, and that's a very good thing. He manages to retell certain plot points naturally, without either recycling his art or trying too hard with clever angles. He seems to take his cues from Wood perfectly, adding his own beats at just the right time.
I'm curious to see where Local takes people after Megan�s departure from PDX, especially since I'm confident that Wood and Kelly have more than one trick up their sleeve. To find out more about the creative process involved in this title, visit the Local blog. The first issue features a Diamond ordering code of SEP053052 and will be on the stands in November.
The debut issue of Local by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly is a nearly meditative, deceptively simple study in rhythm. By doing a dramatic turn on the Run, Lola, Run formula, Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly have come up with a debut issue that allows you to get to know a character through four versions of the same scene, each with a different outcome; Megan McKeenan is sent into a pharmacy with an obviously fake prescription provided by her junkie boyfriend. Without giving too much away, Local's debut serves as more than a launch point for the quasi-sequel to Wood's collaboration with Becky Cloonan, Demo: it also manages to show how small changes in timing and approach can completely alter the future. Much like Lola, Wood's script doesn't pander or congratulate its cleverness. There's no burdensome expository narration on Megan�s's part - she never once says "But what if I had done...this?" or informs us of how much of a raving moron her boyfriend is.
Ryan Kelly's art has reminded me (since my first exposure to him in Giant Robot Warriors) of a cleaner Paul Pope, and that's a very good thing. He manages to retell certain plot points naturally, without either recycling his art or trying too hard with clever angles. He seems to take his cues from Wood perfectly, adding his own beats at just the right time.
I'm curious to see where Local takes people after Megan�s departure from PDX, especially since I'm confident that Wood and Kelly have more than one trick up their sleeve. To find out more about the creative process involved in this title, visit the Local blog. The first issue features a Diamond ordering code of SEP053052 and will be on the stands in November.
