Comic Review - AWOL'd

AWOL'd

As if trying to review movie and music isn't enough, I'm going to add comics into the fray. Having just come back from FanExpo 2008 in Toronto I dropped something to the tune of $150 strictly on independant comics on 'Artists' Row' in a passionate desire to support the local comic scene. And in all honesty, it wasn't nearly enough to get all the stuff I wanted, but I did get to meet a ton of cool people ranging from artists and writers, to colorists and owners of publishing companies.

So starting things off is Jason Loo's 'AWOL'd,' a story about three street kids who are forcefully recruited to serve as top secret government agents. They are genetically modified and trained to be perfect killers, but resent their captivity and eventually escape. They are tracked by their previous boss as they try to forge a new life for themselves and are constantly on the run.

Right off the bat one can find easy links to Grant Morrison's 'We3' not only in the fact that there are three main characters who are government runaways, but also in the innocence of the protagonists and their unfortunate use of violence. It would be unfair to compare Loo's artwork to Frank Quietly, but this isn't to say that his work is bad. Quite the opposite. Considering that 'AWOL'd' doesn't have an ISBN number, I can only assume that this was independently put together which, when looking at his artwork, makes this book very impressive. Moreover, he uses interesting writing mediums to bridge each chapter and progress the storyline - brief e-mails to explain month long periods of time (a cool reference to Douglas Coupland's Microserfs). He even starts off the book with a great 'suggest listening' track list which includes Sparta, Glassjaw and Rival Schools. I'm not going to lie, this easily sold me on wanting to read more.

The writing of the book, however, is somewhat forced. Events happen at breakneck speeds leaving the reader confused as to whats going on. For example, we only find out later in the storyline that two of the three heroes are romantically involved with each other. What the? How did we get from being friends on the run to sleeping together? I always find that the beauty of character development is in the subtle details and 'AWOL'd' proves this to be true. Its hard to get emotionally attached to these characters when you don't even know their interesting quirks or particularities. Moreover the dialogue is often forced and at one point, Norton (the sniper of the three) shoots someone in the head and through sniffles claims "it stings each time." When the two lovebirds decide to have sex, their friend responds nonchalantly by saying "I'll slit your throats if I see any skeet marks on my pillow." Really? Do we need to toss around dated slang to make the comic seem edgier? I don't know, the dialogue annoyed the hell out of me, which is upsetting because they story at its core is has good direction and an interesting concept.

Where Loo excels I think is in his ability to tell a good action story. The sequences where the three heroes are chased down and must face off against a group of similarly-engineered agents was gripping and very cleverly executed. On top of this, the talents each character brings to a combat situation are interesting and well defined, but not overly hokey. Loo has the ability to draw out a combat scene that is convincing but not dragged out.

While my criticisms of the dialogue and writing are somewhat heavy handed, its important to note that 'AWOL'd,' despite its rocky start, tightens up its writing near the end of the book and leaves the reader with a cliffhanger has us howling for more. Already, Volume 2 already looks to be a lot better, not just because it will help progress an interesting storyline, but because its easy to tell that Loo's writing has already dramatically improved throughout the transition of just this book.