The Nobody

Serious comic fans have been begging for more original graphic novels, or in other words books that are not serialized, but instead land on your lap in one solid chunk with no artificial breaks in the action. And 2009 was a spectacular year for the OGN, including works such as Parker the Hunter, Asterios Polyp and 3 Story. Still one of my favorites of the year is The Nobody, written and illustrated by Jeff Lemire and published by Vertigo. He is better known for his critically acclaimed Essex County trilogy and now Sweet Tooth, which I can only describe as a nightmare version of Bambi. The Nobody fits well with his other work: it is melancholic, nostalgic and a little bit scary at times.

When a stranger shows up in the tiny town of Large Mouth the locals quickly become suspicious of him. It does not help that every last inch of his skin is covered in bandages, and his eyes are hidden behind dark goggles. This stranger claims to be a professor who hurt himself in a lab accident, but in his private moments the reader discovers that the professor has been experimenting with invisibility. Don’t be surprised if this sounds a little bit like an adaptation of The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells, the book is actually full of allusions and references, starting with the names of most of the characters and some of the situations they are put through.

Still the differences are what make this book really exciting. In the original novel the professor is driven mad by the serum, but in this book Lemire plays with the idea that maybe the professor got a double dose of crazy and no invisibility. Or maybe he really is invisible, struggling with inner demons but ultimately the hero of his own drama. The author does not seem that interested in the fantastical elements of the book, instead he leaves them vague and submerges himself into the lives of the other residents, exploring the highs and lows of small town life. And the whole book, both artistically and thematically, is enveloped in a fogy gloom of half explained story threads and washes of grayish blue over stark black and white illustrations. It is easy to get lost in this world and finish the whole book in less than an hour, but during repeated readings the story seems to shift on the page producing different events and outcomes, like a story where your mood chooses its own adventure.   There is not much more I can say without telling my own stories about what happened in Large Mouth, but I can urge you to pick up this book and experience a comic with some subtlety that seems to rebel against the big colorful action of superhero comics.

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