I picked up Escalator because I liked the look of Graham's art and the bizarre range of subject matter sounded like fun. What I didn't expect was to be completely blown away, and to come out thinking that Graham is a major new talent. It's clear from reading Escalator that Graham has been toiling away in the comics trenches for a few years, but this is my first exposure to his work, and I'm flabbergasted at how cool it is. Mixing influences as diverse as European comics, hip-hop/graffiti art, Paul Pope and '60s Marvel, Graham produces a variety of shorts with a tendency toward bizarre sci-fi or slightly skewed, streetwise slice-of-life, and though the material in each story is pretty different, the common factor in all of the stories is how good they all are. Full of quirky ideas, strong moments and gorgeous artwork, this is the kind of graphic novel that you hope to find every time you pick up a new book by a new talent. It's phenomenal, and to find such talent on what amounts to a lucky whim is one of the best surprises comics has offered up for me in years.
Usually when I'm this blown away by a work, it comes with a heavy emotional component, a story or series of stories that digs deep into the writer's personal life to explore common human dilemmas. That's not really the case with Escalator, though. To be sure, there are a couple of very personal stories, including "Gone Fishin" and "IOU," but even those stories have some quirky elements, including Brandon's father's insistence that Jesus is mowing lawns in Ohio or unusual conversations about Japanese spray paint cans or the way that artificial meat actually tastes better than the real thing. The main emotion I get out of Escalator isn't soul-searching existential angst, the difficulties of modern relationships or anything like that, it's an infectious sense of fun and mad ideas akin to Jack Kirby or Grant Morrison.
Graham's stories, although often set in strange science-fiction worlds, retain a sense of verisimilitude that makes them easily relatable even as they're bizarre and engaging as a result of their alien nature. The familiarity of lost love and the minor problems of urban living intersect with weird dream logic in "Breakfast." The simple human guilt of doing something we think we should be ashamed of mixes with the quirky notions of alien pornography in "Green Porn." The routine of chatting up folks you see on a regular basis blends with a post-apocalyptic, futuristic landscape in "Elevator," a new story created for this book.
Which isn't to say that Graham doesn't wander further afield in his explorations as well. "A Sumo Hero King" doesn't really go much of anywhere, but the very notion of sumo heroes wandering the land is wild enough to get my attention, and the conversation between a couple of Sumos is certainly entertaining, if brief. Similarly brief and entertaining are "Survive," built on the notion of a world plagued by terrifying roving bands of school girls, "Devil & The Deep," a Heavy Metal-influenced adventure about a hot girl braving a soul-eating monster in an arctic landscape and "Eat Here, Get Gas," a wonderful minimalist two-pager in which a couple of space truckers kick back at a diner between gigs. Each of these stories suggests more stories to be told in that vein, and that's not an unusual thing in Escalator. Though the tales found here are satisfying, there's a sense that Graham is just over-flowing with ideas, and that he probably comes up with two or three great ideas for miniseries, graphic novels and ongoing tales a day at the least.
Although Graham's wide range of ideas (including one I didn't really get into, the music/sci-fi/action piece "Ieonium Blue") are what kept my interest, it was his unusual art style that got my attention in the first place. Almost impossible to describe, it reminds me at times of Paul Pope, Jim Mahfood, Scott Morse and about a dozen other cool indy guys, but all with enough stylish tweaks to be something all his own. Graham's style is slightly different on each story, but what the art on all the stories has in common is detailed backgrounds, infectious energy and imaginative layouts. As much as Graham's stories engaged my mind, his artwork delighted my eyes. Escalator is one of the best things I've read so far this year, and I look forward to seeing what Graham gets up to next. 10/10
