COOLSVILLE
Nowheresville
By Mark Ricketts
Graphic
Novel review by Troy Brownfield
More
Info: www.imagecomics.com
, www.nowheresville.com
Let
it be known that I am sucker for noir. Let it also be known
that I am an unrepentant sucker for the music and style of
the 1950s. Much of this probably comes from my dad, who in
addition to giving me his Rolling Stones vinyl and buying
me Kiss Alive II when I was five years old, always
had me listen to oldies radio and watch PBS specials on the
history of rock with him when I was a kid. Little Richard,
Chuck Berry, and from there, Eddie Cochran, Duane Eddy, Buddy
Holly, etc. I love the Fountain Square Diner in Indianapolis,
preserving as it does the original ambiance of the soda fountain.
I love Radio Radio, not a block away, that has wicked decorations
and runs videotapes of The Avengers and The Prisoner
while hosting Rockabilly and Mod nights.I
guess you could accurately say that I AM the target audience
for Mark Ricketts's Nowheresville. And I DIG it.
While
the mystery central to the narrative is thick and involving,
and the 1958 New York setting is stunningly rendered, the
absolute magnetic pole of this story is the protagonist, Chic
Mooney. Embodying at turns Brando (that cigarette), James
Dean (the duck's ass hairdo) and Dean Moriarty (if you don't
know who that is, kick your own ass and go to a library),
Chic represents the rebel aesthetic central to the best work
of the period. He has the moral character of Chandler's Marlowe,
though it derives from a unique source: Zen Buddhism. Imbuing
the character with this quality and other unique features
(a Japanese mother, an unwillingness to hurt a fly), Ricketts
hangs a new sensibility on a familiar type of tale.
Though
the story swims in nicely realized characters (femme fatale
Cat, Sticks, Hayley), two others truly stand out, obviously
also drawing on some noir tradition for inspiration. Queeg
is Chic's writer buddy, happy to pound out pulp prose for
a little bit of cash. We occasionally get some of his writings
in captions that flow along with the action; of course, he
bases his characters on people he knows and doesn't bother
changing the names.
The standard
character of the confrontational cop is given the perfect
name considering the times: McCarthy. Typically, the cop in
such a story doesn't need much reason to dislike the protagonist
other than the protagonist not being a cop. However, Ricketts
has given McCarthy some honest psychological motivation that
is truly fascinating (and explains the persistent use of the
phrase "Hoosegow" when the character appears).
Artwise,
Nowheresville is dark, jagged, and involving. Ricketts
has a real flair for the era's clothing and design styles.
The beat poet and jazz sequences revel in an appropriately
smoky, dreamy quality. Everyone constantly appears to be stepping
out of a shadow or back into one. On film, this would look
like Reed's The Third Man or any number of Howard Hawks
pictures.
Whatever
your style or taste, Nowheresville remains a great
mystery, and is easily one of the best graphic novels to find
release in 2002.
Troy
Brownfield is the Editor-in-Chief of Shotgun Reviews. Email
him here.
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