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HOPELESS SAVAGES: GROUND ZERO #1
Highly Recommended (9/10)
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Oni Press
Writer: Jen Van Meter
Artists: Bryan O'Malley & Andi Watson
Letters: Bryan O'Malley
Editor: Jamie S. Rich
Price: $2.95 US/$4.50 CAN |
Though I enjoyed the first Hopeless Savages limited series, I don't think it clicked for me as well as it might have for other readers. It was a fun, over-the-top romp, but what I was looking for was more of the strong characterization that dominated the flashback scenes as opposed to the kidnappings and capers that characterized the main sequences. And with Ground Zero #1, my wish comes true.
Skank Zero -- Zero for short -- is the youngest of the oddball Savage children, and she's havign a rotten week. A TV crew is at the family home to shoot a documentary about her formerly famous musical parents, the boys at school are treating her a like slut for no good reason, and her chemistry partner is a weird little jerk that Zero may or may not like. Yep, it's been a rotten week, and it gets worse when Zero vents at the most inopportune moment.
O'Malley's exaggerated approach here -- though it gets a bit inky -- really brings out Zero's intensity of emotion. He captures her explosive personality quite well, and while his depiction of the characters is somewhat extreme, he also conveys the realistic chaos and drudgery of high-school hallways and classrooms nicely well. Andi Watson's art -- used for the flashback sequences -- was a welcome sight as well. His simple approach suited the tone of the flashback, as the theme was about innocence and its premature loss. Having a different artist involved for flashbacks has been a recurring motif for Hopeless Savages stories, and it works quite well.
Zero's mother plays a small but integral role in this story. The flashback sequences is all about her, but it's there to explain how the two are interacting. She's behaving a bit out of character here, reigning in Zero for no apparent good reason. But the reasons are there, as another Savage points out. Van Meter taps into a thoroughly genuine tone here, showing how little things in life can pile up on us and influence who we are on a day-to-day basis.
Van Meter has achieved a strong balance between innocence and maturity in Zero. She's true to herself above all else, and it's an admirable -- and mature -- quality that makes the reader enjoy her character. But there's a little girl inside of her as well, a side of her that her intelligence, maturity and attitude can't hide.
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