Remember that episode of Seinfeld in which Estelle Costanza decides not to get a divorce after getting some advice from a Chinese woman, but then disregards said advice when she discovers the source isn't Chinese after all? That's sort of what this issue of Demo is like, except without the comedy. Wood provides a more dramatic take on the concept, though, bringing two disparate personalities together. Wood plays around with the concepts of innocence and materialism, pessimism and naivete. Cloonan captures key elements here that reinforce the character-driven story, not the least of which is the child-like qualities of the main character's unusual emotional guide.
Tommy Martin is a 20-something with a high-paying job, a nice Manhattan apartment and all of the vices he could desire. He's living a life others would kill for, but all it's given Tommy is isolation, loneliness and emptiness. He crosses paths with an apparently homeless girl, but what she lacks in material possessions, she makes up for in insight. Somehow, she knows Tommy inside and out, and she points him in the direction he needs to take to achieve happiness. I'm also struck by another, somewhat uncommon influence I perceive in her work. Her portrayal of Tommy, though still showing that Japanese influence, also puts me in mind of the style of the legendary Don Heck, especially when it comes to how Cloonan draws the character's eyes.
The mange influence really takes over in Cloonan's work for this issue; it's far more prominent here than ever before, but mainly when it comes to her depiction of the young girl who peers into Tommy's soul. He wide-eyed, manga look for the character reinforces her youth, and the juxtaposition of her apparent innocence with her wisdom and perceptiveness makes for striking thematic conflict in the character. Cloonan also conveys the hustle and bustle of Tommy's world with the photo references incorporated into the opening page.
Wood's script makes it easy to understand why Tommy is drawn to this mysterious girl. Her dialogue depicts her as a thoroughly intelligent and rather happy person, but at the same time, she's down to earth and has a sense of humor. She's a dichotomous figure, through and through. Young but wise, strong but vulnerable. Tommy is in awe of her but also feels protective of her as well.
Many episodes of this series has embraced vague plots and endings, and this one follows suit. There's a gut-wrenching sense of betrayal at play at the story's climax, and we can see that the girl definitely feels guilty over her role in Tommy's fate. But we're also shown that the girl hasn't spent the money Tommy was giving her, so it's clear her motive in approaching Tommy wasn't financial. The character holds onto that spiritual quality, and I get the feeling that she needed Tommy as much as he needed her. Tommy needed to be shown what was truly important in life, and it seems as though the girl needed to be needed. She finds a new source to fulfil her need, and it brings a hint of hope to a tragic story. 10/10
