Stephanie Kay
Mar 11, 2006, 09:35 pm
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0306/AmericanVirginCv1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0306/AmericanVirginCv1t.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="American Virgin #1"></a>Reviewer: Stephanie Kay, children_of_paradise@hotmail.co.uk
Story Title: Head Pt 1
Keep it clean and the world is ours, Adam. A world we can finally shape in God’s image instead of the liberal pagan Hell this country’s becoming.
Writer: Steven T. Seagle
Artist: Becky Cloonan
Colorist: Brian Miller
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Cover Artist: Frank Quitely
Assistant Editor: Angela Rufino
Editor: Shelly Bond
Published by: <a href="http://www.dccomics.com/ " target="new">Vertigo/DC Comics</a>
American Virgin Created by: Seagle & Cloonan
Suggested For Mature Readers
I’ve recently been musing over what upcoming Vertigo titles would be arriving on the market – afterall some of the last wave are beginning to end, or that moment is now in sight (e.g. The Losers, Y: The Last Man, 100 Bullets) so we’ll be needing some replacements and new gems. So along with The Exterminators and Loveless, American Virgin has arrived to test the waters – and for one of the most horrifying 10 second periods of my life I thought DC had chosen to adapt the dismal Bob Hoskin’s film American Virgin to comic form. Thankfully the solicitation restored my senses – a comic by Steven T. Seagle and Becky Cloonan focusing on religion, ritual, sex, chastity, youth, media, terrorism and death to be exact.
American Virgin follows Adam Chamberlin, an attractive 21 year old that has spent the last year or so preaching a new form of God’s word. He’s a Christian youth minister, who in a hope of reaching out to his own generation, promotes a ‘save yourself to save yourself’ slogan: that is, asking people to reconsider having sex before marriage, and rather saving yourself for your ‘one true intended’. He himself is living out this campaign whilst those around him seek to damage or force him onto an ever growing national platform, and this issue jumps aboard just at the moment where things are beginning to disintegrate.
Both Seagle and Cloonan have made a name for themselves in more individualistic style concepts in comics. I’m quite open to the work of Seagle; I’m familiar of him through Uncanny X-men and The Crusades, and even in the most high profile of books he does have a distinct touch of adding in ‘meaty’ critique (usually power issues) This issue shows he is more than capable of writing more challenging material, both satirical and truly serious in its message. Being paired with Cloonan really does allow for an intriguing creative team. I’m a big fan of Cloonan, especially from DEMO, and her pencil work here is quite reminiscent of her work there. The black and white nature of DEMO might actually have worked equally as well in American Virgin, as sometimes the coloring this issue tends to rely on ‘shadow’ tinges to show facial structure. That doesn’t always ‘fit’ the heavy inking on characters, (a problem people may have when they try to color eastern styles which Cloonan is influenced by) and sometimes it’s discarded altogether (as shown in the book signing scene and the outside phonecall) The pallets chosen for skin tones and clothing also seem to fluctuate a little in simple boldness, but perhaps I’m nitpicking after my high expectations. The coloring on the cover would work better in my honest opinion, and Frank Quitely covers are quite a treat in themselves.
The genre of this comic is probably going to determine a little who is going to give it a try, which is a bit of a pity as I’m sure the opening scenario is covering the later wider issues. Religion and ‘the body’ are not culturally ‘factors of mass movement’ in the country I live in – in that we don’t tend to have commercially large staged events, (in)famous faith healers, newly created sects / dominations and the kind. So this is a subject quite interesting to me in a curious way and over its notoriety and past ‘scams’. American Virgin #1 introduces and implies all these issues and sets off (quite unusually) an immediate downward spiral for its protagonist. If taking the art from the first and final pages, then Cloonan perfectly emphasises just how far Adam has plummeted in the space of only one issue. Sex, death and religion have all gone hand in hand in novels and film, yet it has strangely been absent within the comic form. Religion and sex is of course prominent in titles such as Preacher and Lucifer, but it is not often coupled with extremely ‘grounded’ issues. If this comic does wish to follow a Y: The Last Man formula (which it has alluded to in recent promotion), then the disjunction of society provides the platform for a character-piece – characters in turmoil over who they use to be and who they are progressively changing into. I can admittedly see far more duration in that direction than it simply being fuelled by the virginity of the central character.
At this point, I will say I’m indifferent to Adam. Seagle has created him as a product of his word: he’s not dislikeable and there is obviously a genuine adoration of his girlfriend and his religious beliefs. But there is also an idealisation which tends to confuse exactly who he is. It makes a change to the usual stereotypical fare of a kind-hearted geek who’s trying desperately to get laid, and there is irony in that Adam announcing he "wont" have sex seems to make him more appealing to many women (and men). Ultimately it is those around him who are trying to shape his life and perspective – those who trying to take his virginity, aiming to ‘taint’ Adam’s ‘perfection’ (i.e his wonderfully vile cousins), those who represent the starkly alternative views of life (his rather disturbingly extremist mother, her television campaigning partner and the opposing more liberal siblings) All this whilst Adam indignantly retains that it is God’s word that makes him do what he does. And in some ways, you truly want to believe him – at this point though it really does remain to be seen – delusion is whispering in my ear. So far there is not much established beyond his words and preaching, his persona perhaps. Adam doesn’t seem wholly convinced by the exterior he puts on (as evidenced by the letters of offered sex he keeps in his case), and the falsity of celebrity and television makes the religious aspect become dubious. He is though a ‘hot blooded 21 year old’ so it’s all quite understandable (hmm…) – his denouncing of pre-marriage sex quite ironically forces a preoccupation with it. His phonecall with his girlfriend makes him seem (unintentionally?) a little insensitive; he is thinking over the subject his life now represents and she is clearly witnessing (and later experiencing) harrowing events in a third world country. The relationship with Cassandra (the only woman God has told him to be with, forever) is more a device than anything, but it did provide me with an interesting, pretty sadistic, smirk over whether Adam will stay true to his religious calling. Afterall ‘prophets’ (which Adam’s mother calls him) are not meant to break their word over simple carnal sin, regardless of life and death.
American Virgin #1 is a good opener, and I will happily stick with this through its opening arc. There are though a few potential pitfalls for this to not remain on my buying list; for one thing I’m not totally sure what the comic is setting out to achieve. I don’t need a strong central plot going from A to B, no, but if it’s going for spontaneous sways then it really needs to bring out characters with charisma or endearment. So far, I’m not wholly convinced Adam-as-a-person has the charm in that style of comic; what he ‘represents’ is more key, which has been shown by the variety of notions and hypocrisy already running through. But I don’t wish to be too cynical after only one issue - thematic variety allows for a multitude of levels, and American Virgin really could go anywhere from here.
ART:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vnone.jpg
STORY:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vhalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vnone.jpg
Story Title: Head Pt 1
Keep it clean and the world is ours, Adam. A world we can finally shape in God’s image instead of the liberal pagan Hell this country’s becoming.
Writer: Steven T. Seagle
Artist: Becky Cloonan
Colorist: Brian Miller
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Cover Artist: Frank Quitely
Assistant Editor: Angela Rufino
Editor: Shelly Bond
Published by: <a href="http://www.dccomics.com/ " target="new">Vertigo/DC Comics</a>
American Virgin Created by: Seagle & Cloonan
Suggested For Mature Readers
I’ve recently been musing over what upcoming Vertigo titles would be arriving on the market – afterall some of the last wave are beginning to end, or that moment is now in sight (e.g. The Losers, Y: The Last Man, 100 Bullets) so we’ll be needing some replacements and new gems. So along with The Exterminators and Loveless, American Virgin has arrived to test the waters – and for one of the most horrifying 10 second periods of my life I thought DC had chosen to adapt the dismal Bob Hoskin’s film American Virgin to comic form. Thankfully the solicitation restored my senses – a comic by Steven T. Seagle and Becky Cloonan focusing on religion, ritual, sex, chastity, youth, media, terrorism and death to be exact.
American Virgin follows Adam Chamberlin, an attractive 21 year old that has spent the last year or so preaching a new form of God’s word. He’s a Christian youth minister, who in a hope of reaching out to his own generation, promotes a ‘save yourself to save yourself’ slogan: that is, asking people to reconsider having sex before marriage, and rather saving yourself for your ‘one true intended’. He himself is living out this campaign whilst those around him seek to damage or force him onto an ever growing national platform, and this issue jumps aboard just at the moment where things are beginning to disintegrate.
Both Seagle and Cloonan have made a name for themselves in more individualistic style concepts in comics. I’m quite open to the work of Seagle; I’m familiar of him through Uncanny X-men and The Crusades, and even in the most high profile of books he does have a distinct touch of adding in ‘meaty’ critique (usually power issues) This issue shows he is more than capable of writing more challenging material, both satirical and truly serious in its message. Being paired with Cloonan really does allow for an intriguing creative team. I’m a big fan of Cloonan, especially from DEMO, and her pencil work here is quite reminiscent of her work there. The black and white nature of DEMO might actually have worked equally as well in American Virgin, as sometimes the coloring this issue tends to rely on ‘shadow’ tinges to show facial structure. That doesn’t always ‘fit’ the heavy inking on characters, (a problem people may have when they try to color eastern styles which Cloonan is influenced by) and sometimes it’s discarded altogether (as shown in the book signing scene and the outside phonecall) The pallets chosen for skin tones and clothing also seem to fluctuate a little in simple boldness, but perhaps I’m nitpicking after my high expectations. The coloring on the cover would work better in my honest opinion, and Frank Quitely covers are quite a treat in themselves.
The genre of this comic is probably going to determine a little who is going to give it a try, which is a bit of a pity as I’m sure the opening scenario is covering the later wider issues. Religion and ‘the body’ are not culturally ‘factors of mass movement’ in the country I live in – in that we don’t tend to have commercially large staged events, (in)famous faith healers, newly created sects / dominations and the kind. So this is a subject quite interesting to me in a curious way and over its notoriety and past ‘scams’. American Virgin #1 introduces and implies all these issues and sets off (quite unusually) an immediate downward spiral for its protagonist. If taking the art from the first and final pages, then Cloonan perfectly emphasises just how far Adam has plummeted in the space of only one issue. Sex, death and religion have all gone hand in hand in novels and film, yet it has strangely been absent within the comic form. Religion and sex is of course prominent in titles such as Preacher and Lucifer, but it is not often coupled with extremely ‘grounded’ issues. If this comic does wish to follow a Y: The Last Man formula (which it has alluded to in recent promotion), then the disjunction of society provides the platform for a character-piece – characters in turmoil over who they use to be and who they are progressively changing into. I can admittedly see far more duration in that direction than it simply being fuelled by the virginity of the central character.
At this point, I will say I’m indifferent to Adam. Seagle has created him as a product of his word: he’s not dislikeable and there is obviously a genuine adoration of his girlfriend and his religious beliefs. But there is also an idealisation which tends to confuse exactly who he is. It makes a change to the usual stereotypical fare of a kind-hearted geek who’s trying desperately to get laid, and there is irony in that Adam announcing he "wont" have sex seems to make him more appealing to many women (and men). Ultimately it is those around him who are trying to shape his life and perspective – those who trying to take his virginity, aiming to ‘taint’ Adam’s ‘perfection’ (i.e his wonderfully vile cousins), those who represent the starkly alternative views of life (his rather disturbingly extremist mother, her television campaigning partner and the opposing more liberal siblings) All this whilst Adam indignantly retains that it is God’s word that makes him do what he does. And in some ways, you truly want to believe him – at this point though it really does remain to be seen – delusion is whispering in my ear. So far there is not much established beyond his words and preaching, his persona perhaps. Adam doesn’t seem wholly convinced by the exterior he puts on (as evidenced by the letters of offered sex he keeps in his case), and the falsity of celebrity and television makes the religious aspect become dubious. He is though a ‘hot blooded 21 year old’ so it’s all quite understandable (hmm…) – his denouncing of pre-marriage sex quite ironically forces a preoccupation with it. His phonecall with his girlfriend makes him seem (unintentionally?) a little insensitive; he is thinking over the subject his life now represents and she is clearly witnessing (and later experiencing) harrowing events in a third world country. The relationship with Cassandra (the only woman God has told him to be with, forever) is more a device than anything, but it did provide me with an interesting, pretty sadistic, smirk over whether Adam will stay true to his religious calling. Afterall ‘prophets’ (which Adam’s mother calls him) are not meant to break their word over simple carnal sin, regardless of life and death.
American Virgin #1 is a good opener, and I will happily stick with this through its opening arc. There are though a few potential pitfalls for this to not remain on my buying list; for one thing I’m not totally sure what the comic is setting out to achieve. I don’t need a strong central plot going from A to B, no, but if it’s going for spontaneous sways then it really needs to bring out characters with charisma or endearment. So far, I’m not wholly convinced Adam-as-a-person has the charm in that style of comic; what he ‘represents’ is more key, which has been shown by the variety of notions and hypocrisy already running through. But I don’t wish to be too cynical after only one issue - thematic variety allows for a multitude of levels, and American Virgin really could go anywhere from here.
ART:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vnone.jpg
STORY:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vhalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vnone.jpg