I got a call at work, at the paper, recently, from the mother of a girl I wrote about almost two years ago. The girl was the victim of sexual abuse over the course of five years, maybe more, beginning when she was five or six years old. Turns out the guy was up for parole, and she wanted me to know about it. I interviewed the mom, got access to the parole hearing as an observer. I learned a lot more about this heart-wrenching story... more than my readers, actually, because a court-ordered publication ban on the victim's identity kept me from going into too much detail.
I wrote those stories and many more like them. People have been asking me about them lately. There's a realization that sexual abuse and exploitation of children is a more widespread problem than most of us suspect. But so many people put on blinders when it comes to the subject, and that's one of the things the single mother of that victimized little girl wanted to talk about. About how people want to pretend molestations that shattered their lives never happened.
That's what The White Elephant is about.
Gene can't sleep and he's in therapy. He's filled with anger and sorrow. He's lost a significant portion of his extended family. A key turning point years ago brought division to the family, and Gene's mother -- and by association, her children -- was essentially cut off from the rest of the family. Gene tried to reconnect with that lost family, through a cousin who was like a brother to him, but an unsaid truth is ever-present, a white elephant Gene just can't ignore.
Steininger's art reminds me of the styles of such unconventional talents as Jason (Queen & Country) Alexander, Ted (Enginehead) McKeever and Bill (Stray Toasters) Sienkiewicz. His sketchy, gritty style suits the dark, mature tone of the story quite well, but his greatest contribution is how each scene slowly merges into the next one. There's a hazy, fluid quality to the art that reinforces the dream-like flow of the story.
Hurd returns to the same theme that served him well in his first outing as a published comics writer. Like My Uncle Jeff, The White Elephant focuses on family and how they're connected with one's feelings, memories and self-image. But whereas Jeff saw the main character recapture a part of his past, a part of his family, Elephant examines the notion of family as something that, in some circumstances, has to evolve, has to change.
I love that Hurd has set this story up as a stage play. I wonder if this book originally began as a lengthy one-act play. Hurd has placed the "sets" perfectly and instructed his "actors" on the blocking nicely. I'd honestly be interested to see this performed, and I'm impressed that Hurd was able to capture that quiet, dramatic feel in comic-book form.
Hurd shows the reader that when a child is sexually assaulted, abused, there is more than one victim. There's more than the physical and emotional scars of the sexual abuse to contend with. There's an infinite number of ways that those around the victim can hurt. Innocence is lost, yes, but there's a lot more to be lost as well.
