What I’ve Been Reading: Heavy Liquid
5 Comments | Posted: November 3rd, 2008 | Filed under: What I've Been Reading | Tags: heavy liquid, paul pope
1.
Heavy Liquid is an ink-splattered, lush remix of the archetypical Raymond Chandler mystery, set in the latter quarter of the 21st century, half-familiar to comics readers with its street gangs, criminals in gaudy masks, and echoes of present-day New York while gloriously alien in other ways.
2.
Heavy Liquid is the sort of comic that should have a soundtrack that’s half Merzbow and half Coltrane, produced by Mouse On Mars and available only in a limited edition, packaged beautifully and with copious liner notes about process.
3.
Heavy Liquid serves as a treatise on craft as storytelling as rhythm as theme as motivation as engagement, using conventional dramatic narrative as a springboard into Paul Pope’s worldview and the visual language of the medium with a deliberate efficacy.
4.
I very much enjoyed Heavy Liquid.
Paul Pope is that rare creator who can walk the line between punk sensibility and crass commercialism. He’s a fashionista with a soul and even though his work is sometimes uneven, it is always exciting and fresh.
I was actually really underwhelmed by Heavy Liquid, but I have trouble articulating why. Pope can draw the shit out of all he surveys; there’s no question that the guy has several barrels of raw craft to burn. But I didn’t find the story engaging at all. I don’t know. Part of it, I guess, and I know this isn’t fair, is that I’m so burned out on dystopian futures that anything using that setting starts out with 2 strikes against it as far as I’m concerned.
I can see why people admire Heavy Liquid, and I really wanted to like it, but it just didn’t connect.
Dude, but did you like it?
No, in the end I just thought it was meh. Great-looking meh, though.
Try 100%. I found it to be a much more compelling story than most of Pope’s earlier works. Haven’t finished out HEAVY LIQUID yet to judge it, but there’s been some real nice moments so far.