The Violent #1

The Violent: Blood Like Tar, Issue #1 is the story of two former junkies, Becky and Mason, who are trying to make it good, trying to make it clean, but it's hard.  They've got a three-year-old daughter named Kaitlyn, and Mason just spent a year in prison for breaking and entering.  They've got shitty jobs, shitty friends, and a former drug dealer who's trying to get them back in the game.

I'm an alcoholic, trying to make it by, writing grants for charities, hoping one will eventually pay me, but I've got a skill, writing.  Becky and Mason don't have that; they aren't educated.  They lift boxes.  They clean windows.  They have just a few months clean, while I have seven or eight years without a drink.  I never got hooked on the hard stuff, so I don't have drug dealers throwing junk at me, begging me to try it again.  I've got family.  What makes this comic so tough is that the only family Mason and Becky have is their daughter, Kaitlyn.  My son was three when I got sober, and he turned 11 two days ago.

I'm hooked on this comic, to use an unfortunate turn of phrase.  Next Wednesday, when I buy my comics for the week, I'll pick up issue #2 and issue #3.  What makes The Violent so interesting is how real it is.  The more realistic the tale, the more detailed the art has to be.  It takes place in a gentrified neighborhood in Vancouver, and everyone's having trouble paying the rent.  Heck, with the Obama economy bleeding into Canada, landlords are making a killing.

Just look at the detail of the wood on the cover page; you see that type of detail throughout the comic.  The line art is by Adam Gorham, who co-created the series with writer, Ed Brisson, who doubles as the letterer.  The lettering is clean and even, quite professional.  Michael Garland does the coloring, and I love the job he does contrasting the black of the dead of night with the fluorescent lights of the bathroom, where Becky sits with the brown powder her former dealer gave her.  I can't wait until I can read more of this comic.