Twenty-Seven: Second Set #1

Written by Charles Soule
Art by Reno Podesta

The first volume of Twenty-Seven was a pretty cool comic.  It was about the habit of musicians to die at the age of twenty-seven (and was published before Amy Winehouse was added to the list).  The main character, Will Garland, was a musical sensation, playing guitar and singing, before nerve damage left his left hand unable to play the guitar.  Wracked with pain, he explored a number of strange cures, including one that involved him making a deal with the embodiment of the number nine; a god-like creature that embedded a panel on his chest, with buttons which, when pressed, gift him with new creative abilities for a period of three hours (although he can only push the buttons 27 times before he dies).

Now, Garland is back in this new series.  He has attempted to reorient his playing style, but is not meeting with any real success.  He's struggling, but still refuses to shorten his life span by pushing the buttons.  At least, at first.  Like in the beginning of the first volume, Garland is at a serious low point in his life, and is beginning to become desperate to change his situation once again.

Soule's writing on this series is strong, and I really enjoy Podesta's art.  There are a few terrific pages, when Will lets loose later in the book.  I wasn't sure there would be enough to make a second volume (or set) worthwhile, but I can see that there is definitely a plan here.

27 #4

Written by Charles Soule
Art by Renzo Podesta

This exploration of the fleetingness of creativity and talent has been a very enjoyable series.  Will Garland, in this issue, confronts the embodiment of the number 9, and the Erebus, which has been plaguing him.  His argument is that true creative genius - be it musical, artistic, or otherwise - can not be given or gifted, but must be earned through hard work and perseverance.  It's an interesting argument, especially when tossed in the face of an all-powerful entity that views itself as being responsible for the breadth of human creativity.

Twenty-Seven has been a very cool series.  When it started, I expected it was going to go in a different direction (although I'm not sure what that would have been), although I really enjoyed the track that it took.

On the back cover, there is an ad for Twenty-Seven: Second Set.  I'm not sure that there is a lot of room left here for sequels - to my mind, this is a very nicely self-contained story, but I'm curious to see where the creators move next with this.

27 #3

Written by Charles Soule
Art by Renzo Podesta


I think this mini-series is getting better with every issue.  Will Garland continues his quest to gain some understanding of what the living embodiment of the number nine has done to him, and is turning to science for the answer.  His new friend, a quantum mathematician (who just happens to have an MRI machine in his lab), convinces him to push the button embedded in his chest again, and he gains the ability to teleport to any place he can sing about.

This leads to an interesting chat with Jim Morrison, who is now a hermit hanging out in Death Valley.  This affords the reader with a better understanding of the number nine and the rotting entity that has been chasing Will.

Also in this issue, we see some resolution to the hostage stand-off that has been mentioned every time someone in the book watches TV since the first issue.  Soule is doing some cool things with Garland's character, and his story is covering a lot of interesting ground.  I feel like there is a lot of potential to return to this world, and its exploration of the nature of creativity and artistic genius, after this four issue series finishes.

27 #1 & 2

Written by Charles Soule
Art by Renzo Podesta

I want to talk about this comic on its own merits, but first it seems necessary to mention the way in which it become such a buzz book when its first print was released in November.  I remember noticing this title when it was solicited in Previews.  It caught my eye, but as I didn't know either Soule or Podesta, I decided that I would wait and flip through it at the comics store, instead of pre-ordering it.  (I'm lucky, in that I shop at a really good store, so a lot of smaller books by lesser-known creators are on the shelf to take a look at).  Anyway, this book became a 'hot title', and it's taken me until this week to get ahold of a second printing of the first issue.  I just don't understand why this book got so much buzz, and another, equally good title such as Who is Jake Ellis? didn't.  Who decides these things?  Is it some marketing thing, or what?

Anyway, this is a good comic.  It's about a famous guitar player who has lost the ability to play.  He's tried everything, and is now making the rounds of the whack-jobs who think they can help him.  He ends up with a pseudo-doctor, mad scientist, sorcerer type, who performs some mystical procedure on him, that goes horribly wrong.  Now Will has a strange device embedded in his chest, which seems to let him tap into the creative properties of the number nine, although it will kill him too.

It's a cool concept.  We have all sorts of things in this book - strange numerology, great cop dialogue, bitchy professors, and hangers-on and dick-riders around every corner.  The writing is pretty sharp, and the story has a nice flow to it.  I'm not sure where this is going, and I like that a lot.

Artistically, this comic is just begging to be drawn by Ted McKeever.  That said, I like the way Podesta is handling this title.  There's a lot of Michael Avon Oeming in his work, but everything feels darker than that.  I'm glad I finally got a hold of this comic, and I look forward to the remaining two chapters.