Review – Strange Fruit #1 (of 4) (BOOM! Studios)

Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Story: J G Jones / Mark Waid
Art: J G Jones
Release Date: 8th July, 2015

[Warning: review contains minor spoilers]

Given the title of this comic, there’s no surprises what the subject matter is going to be. It’s 1927 in Mississippi and we are smack bang in the epicentre of a maelstrom – literally and metaphorically. A giant flood is coming and the white folks are trying to get the black folks to build up the levees and fill sand bags in time. Meanwhile, the local Klan (same white guys complete with adorable beagles which I won’t forgive, beagles love everyone, I know, I have one), are after Sonny who works at the Senator’s homestead and is accused of stealing. After being refused by the senator, the Klan chase Sonny out over the fields.

The artwork is beautiful and entirely fitting for the time period and story. Delicate washes of watercolour; dusty and bleached, and beautifully drawn people. No dark outlines at all, not even around the frames. It’s gorgeous.

At this point in the story, Sonny running across the fields, I thought “Mark Waid? Mark Waid has a hand in this comic?” Then it became clear. Panels track a comet heading for earth and presumably right for this corner of Mississippi. Something lands that spooks the beagles. Then the Klan meet black power. And what an entrance. The icing on the cake is what he does with the Confederate flag – the current political hot potato.

I absolutely adored this comic. The art, the dialogue, the characters, the beagles and the denouement. I simply cannot wait to read the next issue.

Rating: 5/5.

PREVIEW ARTWORK
[Click to Enlarge]