JUST ANOTHER SHEEP #1 (of 5)
“Eve of Destruction” (22 pages)
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Created by: Mat Heagerty & JD Faith
Writer: Mat Heagerty
Line Art: JD Faith
Colorist/Design: Jon Cairns
Letterer: Ed Brisson
Flatting: Renee Keyes
Publisher: Action Lab
Cover Price: $3.99
What’s so funny about peace, love, and understanding? Make love, not war! Flower power!! Those phrases are associated with the most socially-charged decade of the 20th century: the 1960’s. By social, I’m not referring to the endless sites that make everyone a star. I am referring to significant cultural, historical, political, and sociological impact in the span of a decade. The tail-end was no less turbulent. The story begins the day and night before America’s 191st Bicentennial.
Sheepish [HAH! just realized that!] Banning James wants nothing to do with protests and rallies. He’s on a bus en route to Boston. He’s hell-bent on seeing a specialist that can diagnose and treat his unique condition: he’s a potent telepath!! This qualifies him as a super-human. Not even an ordinary bus ride grants him solitude. Two rubes threaten to rough him up simply because of the peace symbol on his backpack. Banning puts his mojo to work and is kicked out as a result of using self-defense.
Banning is dropped off right in front of a group of vocal opponents. He barely has time to process his situation when a springly red-head named Sadie engages him in conversation. In four sentences, she’s able to put a smile on his face promising him a ride and bringing him into the fray. One more sheep added to the flock.
The Alpha Male has an issue with the four-eyed freak hitting on his hippy chick. The imminent violence is curbed by having a toke. Banning’s debut into the partaking of narcotics has him wildly walk to the other side!!
The newly formed quartet stumble across charismatic speaker Soulya Kraj. He has a major beef with LBJ over the U.S. troops in Vietnam. There’s no more effective way than to storm the White House on America’s most significant holiday. Soulya may have spoken to the peeps but his intentions aren’t entirely pure. He needs cannon fodder for what he’s plotting.
Banning is slowly coming down. Reaching Boston is of the utmost importance. Sadie emphasizes that the next day will be marked in history. He agrees to participate. He’s still waiting on that ride. Banning casts away his inhibitions guzzling beer and having his peepers pop at a revealing show.
V-Day, rather P-Day (peace day) has arrived. The plan is a simple one: storm the White House!! Banning is having second thoughts but still blindly follows. His three new buds speak loudly and proudly. He is barely audible. POTUS’ Secret Service agents will use extreme prejudice. Sadie mistakenly interprets their bluster as a threat. BLAM! One unarmed innocent shot down. More start to drop. Banning runs off hysterically. Soulya has no qualms. He claims the losses are for the good of the cause.
The tear gas comes out. Sadie gasps for air. Banning powers up. He is channeling all of his past hurts. Literally! He directs them towards the SS. Banning is all for self-recrimination. In the midst of his thoughts, the readers realize that his presence on this fateful day was no fluke. He inadvertently aided a secret society known as Les Cordes!!!
OED new entry: ‘sheeple’ has been part of modern-day lingo for the last few years. Clever portmanteau. It’s emphasized enough in the title, the bottom of page 5, and a poem composed by the protagonist.
Tug of war: ‘les cordes’ is French for “the ropes”. Intriguing designation for a secret organization/society.
Snazzy soundtrack: The track listing on the extras page has me think back to last year’s GUARDIANS of the GALAXY compilation. Music is immortal!!
It’s a good thing I re-read this issue. I’ll shamefully admit that I wasn’t really paying that much attention to the narration boxes. I focused on the dialogue and ignored the other info since I assumed it to be Banning lamenting his unidealistic existence. The last page was a payoff in that respect. It’s a no-brainer [no pun intended] that Banning has his own back thanks to his meta-human abilities but to be embroiled in something secretive and scandalous has increased the interest factor!!
This series has been percolating for over a year and a half. Mat Heagerty launched a Kickstarter campaign and fortunately surpassed his goal. Quite smartly, he asked for additional funding so that subsequent issues could be complete before publication. The backers were sent PDFs to access all five chapters. How fortunate to have Action Lab show interest at the halfway mark of the crowdfunding. The rest is history!!
Speaking of history, as already mentioned, we take a trip through time to the Swinging 60’s. I find that term to be erroneous. Ironically, the peace movement had more than its share of hiccups, bruises, scrapes, and falls. There is a real world connection with the mention of the 36th POTUS. The chronology of events is a few years off but it’s all good. Mellow out, man! There was a march on the Pentagon Oct. 21, 1967 and two prior to that event in 1965 and 1966. Two Moratorium movements to end the Vietnam War occurred in October and November 1969.
Mat Heagerty is an independent artist who deservedly now scored his first big gig with a comic book publisher. He has numerous examples of his work on his Tumblr account. Mr. Heagerty is quite passionate about this series. Aside from the Kickstarter, he has poured his mind, body, and soul into this throwback. There’s more to Banning than meets the eye. The meek exterior is his humble and reserved self but having that awesome power requires restraint and training. The poor boy is beyond gullible!! The sound of a friendly voice and the sight of a pretty face are enough for him to implicitly trust total strangers whether it was the Summer of Love or not.
JD Faith recently illustrated VIRGIL for Image. He has also worked on SAN HANNIBAL for Pop! Goes The Icon and The PRIDE for Queer Comix. Mr. Faith’s pencils have a groovy kind of vibe especially that double-page spread. Other than that, there is a discontinuity between the art and the story. I find the renditions don’t match the overall theme of the story.
There are minor anatomy issues. The line weight seems monotonous throughout. It fails to deliver depth.
The flatting is consistent and apparent. Colours pervade but aren’t really vibrant. The psychedelic experience should be brighter.
Ed Brisson captures the loopy lava lamp-esque font of this era inserted at key moments of Banning’s journey.
The 1960’s paved the way for significant changes in American history. Even though I’m a Gen-X’er, I am definitely no ‘love child’ culled into this dazzling decade. The story itself has promise but I believe the art doesn’t really reflect this odd era. I give this book 6 out of 10.
This review was made possible by my abso fave local comic shop:
