Young Liars #18

by David Lapham
Anyone who looks over this blog can tell that I read a lot of Vertigo books, and that I tend to enjoy them quite a bit. Much of what they publish falls into a couple of categories - the dark fantasy sub-genre seems to be their money maker, but they are more than willing to support historical fiction, dystopian science fiction, and some books that don't really fit any easy description.

Young Liars is of that type - there is no easy way to explain this comic. It has been a non-stop ride of betrayals, twists, alien spiders from Mars, and a lot of insanity. This is the final issue of this series, and I'm not sure I can tell you what this book was all about. There were a few times when I thought I had a handle on it, but then everything would change, and I'd be left feeling clueless again. This last issue does that to me three times. And that's why I'm going to miss this comic so much.

There are very few books on the stands that aren't predictable. That's not always a bad thing - many critics would say that's exactly why comic fans read them. Even when plot intricacies in monthly comics are unpredictable, they are usually entrenched in genre conventions, so while you can be surprised (Norman Osborn is the new Tony Stark?!?), and the status quo can be upset for a while, you know that you will eventually return to familiar ground.

Not so with this book. Lapham has put this story through so many twists, that it is almost impossible to map it. And that, to me, was the greatest strength of this book, followed closely by his dynamic and entertaining artwork. I'm not surprised that this book didn't last - it's a little too different for the comic-buying public, I'm very grateful that it got 18 issues, and that Lapham was able to give the book an ending (even if I didn't really get all the ramifications of it). I know that this review is not going to encourage anyone to go out and pick up the trade (Buy it! You'll be confused!), I hope that it has some kind of continued existence in the trade market, and that Lapham's given the chance to run wild with his imagination again sometime soon.