Sweet Tooth #6

by Jeff Lemire

When I started reading this issue of Sweet Tooth, I got confused for a second, and thought I was reading one of Lemire's Essex County books, as it opens with the character of Jeppard in a brawl in the middle of a hockey game. The scene is pure Lemire in that it features an oafish guy who can't quite figure out how to do things properly. I quickly realized that the book was still Sweet Tooth, but it was a strange moment of dissonance.

Now that the book is in its second story arc, Lemire is backing up a little and giving us hints as to what has happened to the world. We see Jeppard, the captain of a professional hockey team, as he and his wife cope with the news of a strange disease appearing around America.

Jeppard's story is told both in the story's present and in flashback, and is interrupted by scenes of Gus as 'The Preserve', where he is locked in a room with some other animal hybrid children. Little is done here, except to establish that it is rare for a hybrid child to have human intelligence, and that kids that are taken out of that room never return.

I have been a fan of this series since its debut, and find that, as Jeppard's character is developed, and our understanding of Gus's world increases, so does my interest in the book. Lemire's doing some wonderful work here.