Publisher: Oni Press
Writer/Artist: Iolanda Zanfardino
Release Date: 18th December 2024
Originally published back in 2019, Midnight Radio was Italian cartoonist (and longtime BCP fave) Iolanda Zanfardino’s first solo graphic novel, and it’s great to see it getting a long overdue re-release from Oni Press. It sees Zanfardino taking on both writing and artistic duties to weave the story of four individuals who find their lives disrupted by a mysterious radio broadcast urging them to break free of their limitations and live their lives to the fullest.
While perhaps best known as being the ‘writer’ in her ongoing creative partnership with Elisa Romboli, it’s easy to see that Zanfardino is clearly a more than capable artist in her own right. Using a monochromatic colour palette throughout (or perhaps “polychromatic” might by the best way to describe it, as each of the four characters has their own distinctive colour scheme), she packs the pages with expressive, dynamic figures and adopts a light-touch, almost sketch-like approach to the linework that gives the story a slightly hazy, almost dreamlike feel in places.
Each of our four main characters are clearly dealing with their own problems, but Zanfardino lets wisely the details of these problems reveal themselves gradually, allowing us to slowly get to know each of them them over the course of the 156 pages.
Steph (aka the “Insta King”) doesn’t speak and communicates solely through faux-“deep” Instagram posts. Addicted to online validation and unable – or unwilling – to engage with the world outside of his phone, he finds himself torn between his principles and supporting his friends and family through their own struggles. His story is picked out in yellow, and features some of the more eye-catching visual flourishes from Zanfardino, including a brilliant sequence where Steph finally lets his inner thoughts creep out, only for them – and the word balloons containing them – to be shattered by the buzzing of his phone’s social media notifications.
Mike, a former game designer, is plagued with the knowledge that he sold out his punk rock roots in favour of stability, settling down to a run-of-the-mill office job and covering up his ‘anarchy’ tattoo with a plain white shirt and tie. However, when his boss tasks him with shutting down a hacker who is trying to expose some damning secrets about the company he works for, he is thrown into something of a moral dilemma and forced to decide between his long-buried morals and the comfortable life he has chosen for himself. Mike gets a green colour scheme, and again Zanfardino throws in some nice visual flair, particularly during the ‘hacking’ sequences.
Japanese immigrant Seika is forced to avoid deportation by the corrupt, racist authorities by going undercover with a group of art forgers. Delivering some of the more dramatic, action-packed sequences of the graphic novel, Zanfardino adopts a blue palette for her story as Seika finds herself falling for the charms of the head forger and ultimately having to decide between her own freedom and the possibility that these men and women painted as thieves and parasites may actually have a nobler goal.
Rounding things out is Joanne, whose story most certainly packed the biggest emotional punch, for me at least. It’s also the one that I’m going to talk about least here, because I feel her struggles with guilt and suicidal thoughts are best discovered for yourself. She gets a red palette, and her story features some of the most evocative visuals – particularly Jo’s facial expressions throughout – of the entire graphic novel.
By turns moving, crushing and uplifting, this is a wonderfully structured look at the human condition and serves as a wonderful showcase for Zanfardino’s well-established knack for creating engaging protagonists who you can’t help but find yourself rooting for.
Honestly, my only real criticism of the graphic novel as a whole would be the lettering, which felt more than a little rudimentary in places, even basic at times. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with being functional, but given the ways that truly high-level lettering can boost the overall emotion impact of a comic, I can’t help but feel that Zanfardino’s (perfectly serviceable) efforts perhaps deprived some of the narrative beats of this story of the true impact they deserved.
Midnight Radio features powerful themes and deeply personal character stories interwoven into a fascinating narrative journey that covers a wide variety of social issues, from racism to social media addiction to LGBT+ rights and dealing with grief, regret and guilt. Thoughtful and emotive without ever feeling pandering, I have absolutely no doubt that every single person who picks this up will be able to relate to at least one of the characters here. Another truly memorable offering from a creator who should most definitely be on your “can’t miss” list.
Rating: 4.5/5.
The writer of this piece was: Craig Neilson-Adams (aka Ceej)
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