Goodnight Paradise

Written by Joshua Dysart
Art by Alberto Ponticelli

Joshua Dysart and Alberto Ponticelli collaborated on one of my all-time favourite Vertigo comics, Unknown Soldier.  In their telling, they shifted the general idea behind the classic character to war-torn Uganda, and gave us one of the freshest and most interesting war comics I've ever read.  After that, Dysart made himself the backbone of Valiant's relaunch, writing Harbinger, the excellent Imperium, and The Life and Death of Toyo Harada.

Recently, Dysart and Ponticelli reconnected to create Goodnight Paradise for new publisher TKO Studios (more on them in a bit).  This brilliant and gorgeous graphic novel (or, if you prefer, six-issue miniseries) is set in Venice Beach, an area that is rapidly gentrifying and changing from the down-and-out haven for the homeless and lost that it's always been to the new home of Snapchat and hundreds of Airbnb units.

The main character is Eddie, an aging drunk who sleeps in the yard of a house near the beach, and spends his days drinking beer and hanging out with some of his friends.  News that his estranged son, Jeronimo, might be coming for a visit, sends Eddie spiralling a little, and it becomes apparent to us that he might not be the most mentally stable of people.  At the same time, we see that he cares deeply about his community and the people who make it up.  He shows concern for Tessa, a young woman who isn't doing well, and later, ends up finding her body (and her dog's) in a dumpster.

From here, Eddie takes it on himself to try to figure out what happened to the girl, which takes him down a rabbit hole of shady real estate dealings, drug dealers, and the kind of people looking to exploit young homeless women for money.

This is a very intelligent book, which works hard to not reduce any of these characters to stereotypes or archetypal portrayals.  It feels like Dysart understands these characters and the challenges faced by communities like this, and was careful to be fair to them.

Ponticelli, for his part, kills on this book.  The art is a mix of drawn and painted pages (with colour art provided by Giulia Brusco), and it captures the look and feel of Venice Beach, based on my memories of a day spent there a few years ago, beautifully.  The juxtaposition of the beach, sun, and surf with the squalor of the homeless encampments is poignant, but like in Dysart's writing, Ponticelli gives everyone great dignity.

This is the first book I've read from TKO Studios, a new publisher that is testing out some unconventional practices.  They are not distributing their books through Diamond, but instead through their own site.  Readers have the choice to purchase the trade paperback (which is slightly oversized and on high quality paper) or to buy the six-issue series as individual comics, packaged in a slipcase.  I'm not sure how I feel about that model.  I love serialization, but if I'm reading the story all at once, I'd prefer it be in one book.  Anyway, I've picked up two more of their first wave titles, and have preordered one of the upcoming releases.  They have some high quality creators working with them, and I'm excited to see what else they are going to have for us.