I read graphic novels reasonably frequently, so the quality, impressiveness and sheer triumph of this novel is not a surprise. It is among the most affecting, most chilling and most prescient stories I have ever read in any medium.This could be our Winner.
Sabrina is largely physically absent from the narrative- an ordinary woman that goes missing, very close to her home just after page 2. We don't see this abduction happen, only its aftermath. This is a narrative of aftermath- of consequences and cause and effect disguised as a straightforward mystery.
How does the world (or America, in this case) respond to horror or tragedy? The Kennedy Assassination? 9/11?Columbine? Sandy Hook? There really are too many school shootings to choose from. The way the masses handle tragedy and violence, the way hysteria breeds conspiracy in the welcoming arms of internet forums and talk radio is at the root of this book. What happens when we aren't bothered about truth, only agenda? What happens when being in agreement is more important than being right? What happens when fact checking just doesn't matter?
The novel mostly follows Calvin, a US airman doing a soulless US security related desk-job at a fortress-like unit in Colorado. He agrees to take in an old childhood pal for a few weeks, a change of scenery. Teddy's girlfriend, Sabrina, has disappeared, presumed dead, and Teddy is wracked with grief, comatose some days. Unsure how to best care for his reconnected friend, Calvin falls back on pizza and beer and resolves to be as supportive as he is able. Teddy sometimes talks to Sabrina's sister, Sandra on the phone as she struggles with the lack of answers, not knowing what happened to her sister. When a videotape surfaces of the murder being committed, things speed up. Violence too extreme to be so random. An unscrupulous media. A story too unsatisfying and too scary to be true. An apparently senseless tragedy is distorted and rewritten, when Infowars-esque "fringe thinkers" and conspiracy theorists begin to interpret and dissect events to fit their own narratives. Death threats. Accusations. Hoaxes. Sabrina never existed, it's a government cover-up, etc. An increasingly frustrated Calvin, Sandra and Teddy (who is slipping further and further into the mad paranoia of the internet) are tied up in these online wannabe journalists own rejection of the truth in their frenzied, anonymous search for more meaningful answers.
It's a fascinating book about the weaponisation of misinformation and the radicalisation of society's marginalized, lonely people that find assurance and community on these forums. The people who exploit and feed this fear, the places these theories and fantasies manage to penetrate. In a world so full of tragedy, sadness and random acts of violence, the temptation of that Rabbit Hole of conspiracy seems too much. These people seem to be offering answers, rationale, comfort. They promise the Truth.
The artwork is functional, but nothing more. It gives the story the stark, urgent storyboard quality that works so brilliantly. It contains the paranoia, the insular nature of the story's themes. It is not a story of soft edges and beautiful colours. It leaves you hollowed out. Painfully aware of what can lurk inside people that you see every day. Reminds you that you can never really know a person. That we are all capable of falling victim to these predatory spreaders of paranoia and misinformation. That it's not just career conspiracy theorists, it swallows ordinary people into the black hole of misery and fear.
It is essential reading. I hope this book is a way in to the world of Graphic Fiction for new readers because there are some truly era-defining stories being told in that medium.
