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COUSCOUS EXPRESS
Recommended (8/10)
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AIT/Planet Lar
Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Brett Weldele
Letters: Larry Young
Price: $12.95 US/$20.50 CAN |
The story of a restaurant delivery girl, her well-armed courier boyfriend and the Turkish Scooter Mafia certainly sounds like an original idea for a graphic novel, and Wood definitely captures the idiosyncratic style that makes such an idea work. Couscous Express is a solid read: a bit
fun, a bit dark and a bit quirky, with great concepts, dialogue and action.
However, much as I enjoy Wood's writing, I had some problems with Weldele's art,
which makes heavy use of zip-a-tone and is often a little hard to read. I was
engrossed in the story, but more than once I missed important story points until
a character mentioned repercussions from them later. The art is certainly
decent, but Wood's ideas and story are excellent and they deserved something
several notches above decent.
There seem to be at least two different versions of Brian Wood. One is the edgy, pissed off creator with something important to say who created Channel Zero, and another is the smart and funny creator who gets into characters' heads who wrote Generation X. Both are excellent, and this
time out, we get the lighter side of Wood. The lighter side happens to include
scooter and rollerblade chases, loud music, cursing, guns, explosions and a
little bit of sexual tension, but those elements don't make this any less a
relatively straightforward story of a spoiled girl realizing just how good she's
actually got it.
Olive, Moustafa and Special
are all fantastic characters, and I can easily see running into any one of them
on the streets of New York City. Olive and Moustafa have a very believable
relationship, with a healthy dose of affection mixed with just the right amount
of realistic arguments. They're not a stereotypical bickering couple, they're
not a stereotypical happy couple, they're just a couple, like any other. The
interaction between Moustafa and Special and Olive and Special is much the same,
just regular human behavior. These characters and their way of dealing with one
another feel quite real.
Having that grounding in
basic humanity allows Wood to go somewhere a little different with the plot.
What starts out as a look at a side of culture most of us don't see, food
delivery and illegal courier service, adds a little bit of quirkiness in the
form of the Turkish Scooter Mafia and a little unreality in the form of a
connection between said Mafia and Olive's parents. Wood never goes overboard
with these elements, grounding the violence in real-life consequences and
balancing the cinematic nature of the final showdown with the very real sense
that things could go horribly wrong at any minute. In addition, while the story
is a showdown between two well-armed gangs, the tale at the heart is really that
of a girl realizing just how much her friends and family would do for her, and
how much they mean to her.
I have probably given the
impression that I was wholly displeased with Weldele's art. In fact, I really
liked some of it. He does an excellent job of giving us a feel for the rundown
urban part of New York in which the story takes place. His transitions, quick
shots of the city or the characters skating or driving, are fantastic. And the
first confrontation between Moustafa's friends and the Turkish Scooter Mafia
inside the restaurant is a thing of beauty, a masterful example of pacing and
style. However, I completely missed that Olive had thrown a bomb into the
Turkish Scooter Mafia headquarters because Weldele underplayed it, and the
zip-a-tone everywhere as well as the sketchiness of the figures often made the
artwork seem, well, cheap and sometimes amateurish. The book looked unfinished
to me, and deliberate style or not, it bugged me.
I love to support good work
from good creators, I love to support original graphic novels and I love to
support AIT/Planet Lar as a publisher. I only wish that I could give the book
more of an unqualified thumbs-up, rather than an "I liked it, but..."
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
