Graphic Novel Friday: Com.x's "45"

Last week, Jeff posted about a few of the oddest graphic novels he recently read, and it inspired me to highlight one pleasantly off-beat book that came my way.

Independent UK publisher Com.x recently brought their strange, atypical collection, 45, to the States. It has to be the least "comics" graphic novel I have ever read--there aren't dialogue balloons, caption boxes, or many panel sequences. Instead, it's a series of interviews with super-powered heroes, misfits, and parents of super-powered children. Each piece is formatted as a traditional Q & A and paired with a single page of art by one of 45 contributing illustrators. Before I started reading, the publisher informed me that the artists had no knowledge of the piece as a whole while creating their individual pages, and, as a result, the collection can feel disjointed--even though the visuals are fascinating, especially when presented with such variety.  Writer Andi Ewington also weaves a very intriguing thread into the Q & As: most of the subjects mention contact with the mysterious "XoDOS" organization, and as the interviews progress, the intentions of this group loom in the background.

Dan Brereton, Sean Phillips, Charlie Adlard, Jock, Carlo Pagulayan, and many more provide the artwork, and simply flipping through the book is a treat for fans of the eclectic. At first, I hunted through the pages, looking for the artists I immediately recognized, and then I read the attached interviews--but as I grew more and more distracted by the illustrations, I eventually gave up and started at the beginning. Ewington frames the interviews around a journalist named James Stanley: as James prepares for the birth of his first child, he wonders if he or she will bear the "Super-S gene," a strand of DNA that, as its name suggests, will bestow super powers upon the carrier. The powers react differently with each subject: some create heroes (super-strength, flight), while others create villains or outcasts (one mother recounts how her son's powers manifested as he fed for the first time--and burned her so severely that she must now wear a protective suit when she holds him). There are a few parents who see the Super-S gene as a meal ticket, while others resent their children for being abnormal.

For Com.x, 45 is a creative gamble that paid off--the presentation is wholly original, and the concept is obviously born out of a love for the medium.