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Local #9
Posted 30 May 2007
Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Ryan Kelly
Publisher: Oni Press
4.90 out of 5 Stars
Reviewed by Adam McGovern
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Nine issues ago, Local writer Brian Wood started out on a
journey with his young traveler heroine Megan McKeenan. It’s brought
him places he didn’t expect as much as it’s taken her to destinations
she couldn’t foresee. In fact, he has said he’s been surprised that
she became so much the major focus of this subtle saga about drifting
lives. I hope he’s happy where he’s arrived, because at this point the
series has put readers in places very new to the medium but as
familiar as everyone’s own secret wishes and hidden pasts.
“Local has put readers in places very new to the
medium but as familiar as everyone’s own secret wishes and hidden
pasts.”
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In the newest issue, Megan gets called back to her home town for
some confrontations with the nature of her character and revelations
of the reasons for her flight. Artist Ryan Kelly handles the
memory-heavy narrative well, with soft-focus flashbacks that look like
a fading photograph or a coloring book of family dysfunction. His
atmospheres of place and attitudes of characters are the most
transporting and involving yet, in a series that was already very
moving in more ways than one (though his people are still drawn a bit
similarly to each other and a thumbnail cover map puts Oklahoma on the
Gulf Coast; too much travel will do that to you).
Megan began as just one player in this book, one of the many faces
you see on the street and never find out what’s behind. The story we
now learn makes perfect sense, and as we’ve seen her psyche settle and
other people be let into her life in recent issues, it’s a comfort and
a gift to learn what’s behind this one. Each of us is one of those
unknown faces to somebody. If you’ve been following Local’s
journey or even if you’re making your first visit with this chapter,
you’ll be anxious to see what’s waiting at the three remaining stops,
and by the last scene of this month’s trip it won’t be just the main
character who’s brought to tears.
—CCdC—
Cover image used without explicit permission in accordance with the "Fair Use" provision of US copyright law.
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