Sweet Tooth #33

by Jeff Lemire

With this issue of Sweet Tooth, Jeff Lemire returns to a technique he used in issue 18, and turns the comic sideways to paint a storybook-like comic which relies mostly on narration, with only a few instances of dialogue.

Lemire's art, especially when painted in watercolours by Jose Villarrubia, is stunning throughout this comic.  I also found that the writing was more effective than usual in pulling out an emotional response, as many of the main characters of this series split into two camps.

The issue begins with Lucy's funeral.  After that, Jeppard, Gus, Becky, Wendy, and the Fat Man, an old hockey buddy of Jeppard's decide to continue their journey north to Alaska.  Johnny and Bobby decide to stay in the dam with the Evergreen people, although it's not long before they are visited by some people they probably never would have wanted to see.

A surprisingly large chunk of the comic is given over to the traveling group singing in their car, and while that may seem strange, it does help to both continue the children's book motif that Lemire is going for in this issue, and to remind the reader that many of the principal characters, despite being human/animal hybrids, are in fact children.

This issue makes clear how much I've come to like the characters of this series, and so I feel trepidation as they journey closer to finding the secrets of Gus's birth, and the origins of the plague that has all but wiped out mankind.  This is a terrific series.