Thumbprint 01

Title: Joe Hill’s Thumbprint 01

Series: 3 Issue Miniseries

Publisher: IDW Publishing

Publication Date: 2013

Creative Team:

            Writer: Jason Ciaramelia

Artist: Vic Malhotra

Genre: Drama, Military, Spy

Joe Hill is an engaging, capable writer whether you’re talking comics or books.  Jason Ciaramelia from my limited experience with his work appears to be much the same.  The last collaborative work that I encountered of theirs was The Cape miniseries (no relation to the slow-motion train wreck of a TV series).  The Cape turned the traditional superhero origin story on its head.  I would review it here but it’s a bit outside the scope of this blog.  However, if such things are of interest to you, I would highly recommend checking it out.  With all of this in mind I was pretty sure I would enjoy Thumbprint.  And so far I’m definitely intrigued.  This is only the first issue of a 3 issue miniseries so there’s still plenty of time to read this series as it’s released monthly.

One is great the other is like watching your Grandma take out her false teeth.

Thumbprint chronicles the life of Mallory Grennan during and after her service in Abu Ghraib.  While no specific year is mentioned it’s clear that Mallory was involved in the scandalous activity that took place there around 2003 and 2004.  (For those of you not familiar with those events here’s the Wikipedia page. Be warned it’s a bit graphic.) Despite her involvement, there was only circumstantial evidence against her so she was able to avoid prosecution.  8 months later Mallory is back home and settling into civilian life.  She is clearly disgusted with her behavior and not adjusting well.  All of this would be enough but she receives a mysterious unmarked envelope with a single piece of paper inside bearing someone’s thumbprint.  Mallory doesn’t know what it means but feels like it’s a threat.

Mallory receives a letter from Helen Keller.

Before Joe Hill broke into comics or had established himself as a novelist, he was known for his short stories.  At present I’ve only read his novels and comics so I had no idea what to expect from Thumbprint.  While the original short story was written in 2007, Jason Ciaramelia’s comic adaptation still feels topical.  Things have changed since 2003 but not by that much.  Thumbprint raises questions that we still need to be asking ourselves.  What are we willing to do to keep our country and its people safe?  Obviously, the soldiers at Abu Ghraib took extreme measures that should never occur.  However, we are also shown Mallory water-boarding a potential suspect.  Even though attempts have been made to prohibit water-boarding by the American military I think it would be naive to assume that it’s no longer employed.  Thumbprint at least in part asks the question: What becomes of the soldiers asked to perpetrate such monstrous acts on our behalf?

I'm all our of snarky comments on this one.  

As readers I think we all want to understand and empathize with our main characters and beyond that, hopefully like them.  I’m not sure that I feel that way about Mallory yet.  The story starts off by introducing the framing device that Mallory is telling her story before her demise.  We are left to wonder whether she intends to commit suicide or if she’s aware she can’t stop some outside force from taking her life.  Furthermore before really getting into Mallory’s military history she recounts a run in with a slimy co-worker’s sexual advances.  Ciaramelia realizes how his audience is likely to feel about Mallory once more of her story is told and has attempted to position her in the most sympathetic way possible.  I don’t know that it entirely works but I haven’t written her off yet and maybe that’s really all Ciaramelia needs since I’m hooked enough to want to come back next month.  Besides I think we all enjoy a good redemptive tale.  We’ve all made mistakes that we hope we can overcome and it’s nice to see characters in our fiction doing just that.  Hopefully Mallory can.

Mallory holds the ants in her apartment hostage.

Vic Malhotra’s keeps Thumbprint mostly in the shadows.  He commonly uses seas of black with the occasional island of color to flesh-out scenes.  When scenes aren’t dark he’s applied a muted brown/blue color scheme.  All of this helps to build the dark morally ambiguity tone of this work.  A lot of comic artists who do monthly titles have other artists ink and color their work.  It seems clear that Malhotra considers these steps as part of his artistic process and it’s hard to imagine what this comic would look like if those tasks were out sourced.  It makes me wonder what his initial penciled pages looks like.  I suspect they probably lack detail compared to most monthly comic artists.  Overall, I enjoy Malhotra’s work but his style is one that has become more prevalent in comics over the last decade and I don’t know that his art really stands out compared to his peers.  His strengths are certainly close-ups which usually look excellent but any faces and figures at a distance have a tendency to look muddled and a bit boxy.  While I do have some issue with the art in that regard, I think Vic Malhotra was a good choice for this comic.

Boxy Brown enjoys a brisk Autumn.

It’s hard to evaluate a work by a single chapter.  I may be able to judge where the creators are going with it but without the work as a whole it’s like examining a puzzle piece.  What seems to work well now may break down in light of the bigger picture.  But for now Thumbprint works and there’s the promise of a story well worth the time to read.

Mallory will soon pay for her flagrant littering.

Grade: A

Anya's Ghost

Title: Anya’s Ghost

Series: Original Graphic Novel

Publisher: First Second Books

Publication Date: June 2011

Creative Team:
            Writer/Artist: Vera Brosgol 

Genre: Super Natural, Young Adult

A couple weeks ago I decided to google “Top 10 Comics by Women”.  I don’t remember what got me thinking that way (probably The Mary Sue.  Check them out and then come right back) but what I was hoping to find was a list of the best creator-owned comics by women.  What I got was unsurprisingly disappointing.  I dug through about 10 pages of search results with titles similar to “Top 10 Hottest Women in Comics”.  Usually these lists were populated by comic book characters, which is too bad because even a list of “Top 10 Hottest Women Working in Comics” would have been helpful.  Eventually, my googling (does that sound bad here) returned the kind of entry I had been looking for.  On that list was Vera Brosgol’s Anya’s Ghost.  It had an intriguing cover and I filed it in the back of my head.  Not long after, I was scouring through my local library’s graphic novel section for the 100^th 5^th time this year (I swear they still have some comics I haven’t read) and low and behold there was Anya’s Ghost.  (The book that is, not Anya’s actual ghost.  Otherwise, this review would quickly have becoming the opening scene to Ghostbusters).  Clearly, this review was meant to be.

Emily before and after using Proactive.

Before I even cracked the cover to Anya’s Ghost this comic had a lot going for it.  Firstly, it has a recommendation from Neil Gaiman himself right on the front.  Secondly, it won an Eisner in 2012 for Best Publication for Young Adults.  Thirdly, it also won a Harvey Award for Best Original Graphic Publication for Younger Readers.  And last but not least it was published by First Second Books.  I have to say over the past year or so I’ve been engaging in a slow motion love affair with this publisher.  First Second Books has only been around for a few years now but they’ve quickly established themselves as a diverse high quality comic publisher.  For example, they also publish a personal favorite of mine called Feynman, a comic biography of the physicist Richard Feynman (I’ll probably be reviewing that soon).  If you ever find yourself considering reading a graphic novel and it turns out it’s published by First Second Books, I highly recommend that you toss out your trepidation and just go for it.

While Anya has smelt it she is confident that she has not dealt it.

Anya’s Ghost is the story of Annushka Borzakovskaya, or Anya for short (but I bet you figured that out already).  Anya’s family emigrated from Russia to the United States when she was about 5.  Her home life is rather steeped in Russian culture but she feels more embarrassed by this than proud.  It’s hinted that earlier in her school career she had been made fun of for being foreign and as she’s gotten older she’s over compensated to seem more American.  She’s gotten rid of her accent and shortened her first name to something far less Russian in order to fit in.  At one point she derogatorily describes another Russian as “Fobby” meaning fresh off the boat.  Besides these feelings of being a stranger in the United States, Anya has the universally relatable high school concerns of wanting to be cool and wanting to be found attractive.  Anya sees the boy she likes with the girl she wishes she was and can’t help but feel jealous.  All of this frustration leads her on a walk in the woods where she accidentally tumbles into an uncovered well.  It’s in this well that she first meets a ghost named, Emily. 

Anya relates her dislike of all things nautical.

Unless they're the librarian from
Ghostbusters.  She's just creepy.

Emily died almost 90 years earlier when she was around Anya’s age.  She tells Anya that she had similarly fallen in the well and been trapped ever since.  After a day or so Anya is rescued (in a rather hilarious way that I won’t spoil) and unintentionally brings Emily with her.  Anya has mixed feelings about having Emily around but her apprehension quickly turns to excitement when Emily shows how useful it can be to have a ghost for a friend.  Before long Emily is helping Anya in school and her social life.  Anya’s life has never been better but she begins to have a nagging feeling about her new friend.  Who was Emily when she was alive?  What circumstances brought her to the well?  Emily might not be who she claims to be.

Anya is extremely relatable.  Her reaction to her friends and family all feel very real.  Her characterization is very three dimensional and color scheme to the contrary her world is not black and white.  There are a couple characters that in the hands of a lesser writer would have been high school stereotypes.  Luckily, in Vera’s hands everyone is given a thoughtful depth.  I couldn’t find a lot of information on Vera Brosgol but as I understand it she was born in Moscow.  I can’t help but wonder if at least the setting and tone of Anya’s Ghost are autobiographical in nature.  (I assume Vera didn’t meet a ghost in a well but stranger things have happened).  

Anya wonders why ParaNorman won't
return her calls.

Anya’s Ghost has an animated feature look about it.  This isn’t overly surprising since Vera Brosgol has had an influence on some recent entries to the young adult spooky animated genre.  She has worked as a storyboard artist on the film adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline (the recommendation on the cover probably makes a lot more sense now) and more recently she did the same for ParaNorman.  Her style does a good job of transitioning between light and fun to moody and creepy without ever getting to heavy.  Another impressive feature of the art is the shading.  A lot of black and white comics stick with that pallet.  Everything is either black or white.  Vera uses what looks like watercolors to provide a beautiful world of gray tones that wonderfully set the atmosphere.  Even if you by some chance hate the story the art work is fun to poor over.

Neil Gaiman called Anya’s Ghost a masterpiece and who am I to argue.  I know Ms. Brosgol spent several years working on this story but I hope that she had several projects she was juggling.  I would love to see her producing more original graphic novels and frankly I’m not a very patient man.  The comics world needs more work like this and comic shops need to take more chances on work like this.  Next time you’re looking for something new to read, take a chance on Anya’s Ghost, you won’t be sorry.

Grade: A+