raloveridge's review
5.0
I really, really liked this. It's emotionally complex and the art is lovely—there's something about Megan's story that really hit me where I live. Maybe it's the idea of moving around and becoming a new person in every new city (whether you want to or not) that resonantes especially with folks my age. And I kind of loved seeing Tempe pop up unexpectedly. Fantastic.
crookedtreehouse's review
5.0
I used to love the TV show ALF. So when it first showed up on Hulu over a decade ago, I blogged about how I was going to marathon the first season over the course of a weekend, and write about it. After two episodes, I had to turn it off. Sometimes it's better to have nostalgia for something you once loved than to go back and see how flawed it is, and how you no longer appreciate that form of art.
The fear of nostalgia over quality is why I haven't reread Local since 2009. I was having a rough year. I had a terrible breakup and was starting to hate a job I had once loved. So one weekend, I took some hallucinogens and read Brian Wood's Local, and LOVED it. Not in the "Oh, man, I was so Fucked Up, and I loved this thing, but now I don't remember anything about it." way, but in the "I just had a real intimate connection with this story and this art, and I vividly remember it, and would like to preserve those pleasant and vivid memories" sort of way.
Since then, it's sat on my bookshelf. I've recommended it to people who have also loved it, I redated and rebroke up with the terrible ex, I took a different job in the same industry and don't hate it. So it was time. It was time to reexperience Local. This time, sober.
I love it just as much.
It's a connection of short stories that doesn't follow the traditional narrative chain of "introduce character, introduce trauma, show them making terrible decisions, do or don't redeem them". Instead, the protagonist comes off as possibly identifiable but fairly shitty for the thrust of the book, and then you are presented with a story that may or may not change how you view the character. And there's good reasoning behind the way the story is told. It's not told out-of-order for the sake of being 90s Pulp Fictiony. Instead, it feels like you're meeting a person, making an acquaintanceship or friendship (depending how you feel about her) with someone, and then, after they experience a change in their life, they explain why they are the way they are. It's very satisfying as a reader.
[a:Ryan Kelly|180971|Ryan Kelly|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s art is the True Star of this book, though. Even without the hallucinogens. It's just black and white inks, but the detail and the panel layouts make it feel almost 3-dimensional, like you could pick a Polaroid up off the protagonist's floor.
I would recommend this to pretty much anyone. It remains one of my all time favorite collections.
The fear of nostalgia over quality is why I haven't reread Local since 2009. I was having a rough year. I had a terrible breakup and was starting to hate a job I had once loved. So one weekend, I took some hallucinogens and read Brian Wood's Local, and LOVED it. Not in the "Oh, man, I was so Fucked Up, and I loved this thing, but now I don't remember anything about it." way, but in the "I just had a real intimate connection with this story and this art, and I vividly remember it, and would like to preserve those pleasant and vivid memories" sort of way.
Since then, it's sat on my bookshelf. I've recommended it to people who have also loved it, I redated and rebroke up with the terrible ex, I took a different job in the same industry and don't hate it. So it was time. It was time to reexperience Local. This time, sober.
I love it just as much.
It's a connection of short stories that doesn't follow the traditional narrative chain of "introduce character, introduce trauma, show them making terrible decisions, do or don't redeem them". Instead, the protagonist comes off as possibly identifiable but fairly shitty for the thrust of the book, and then you are presented with a story that may or may not change how you view the character. And there's good reasoning behind the way the story is told. It's not told out-of-order for the sake of being 90s Pulp Fictiony. Instead, it feels like you're meeting a person, making an acquaintanceship or friendship (depending how you feel about her) with someone, and then, after they experience a change in their life, they explain why they are the way they are. It's very satisfying as a reader.
[a:Ryan Kelly|180971|Ryan Kelly|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s art is the True Star of this book, though. Even without the hallucinogens. It's just black and white inks, but the detail and the panel layouts make it feel almost 3-dimensional, like you could pick a Polaroid up off the protagonist's floor.
I would recommend this to pretty much anyone. It remains one of my all time favorite collections.
nkives's review
5.0
This book is very nicely done, some great art, and purely in black and white. Only problem with this book is that is weights about as much as the 7th Harry Potter book, and is taller so it doesn't make for the easiest book to carry around.
This book is broken into twelve chapters and each one takes place in a different city, but the main character Megan is central to about 10 of the 12 and is in the other 2 in some way. It is telling the story of her life as she drives to figure out where she belongs, and what she should be doing. She travels from Nova Scotia and Toronto to Montana and Virginia. Covers almost all areas of Canada and the U.S. As with life, not every this is easy or smooth, and neither is the life of Megan. She struggles in almost every city she goes. Trying to fit in, and trying to find where she belongs. When reading this, I noticed the chapter titles more than the city that the chapter takes place in, but it is something that you should be paying attention to.
The book has some backup information in the back of the book, like what the the writer and artist were thinking for each chapter. After skimming it, and will read it all and probably go back and re-read this again.
This book is broken into twelve chapters and each one takes place in a different city, but the main character Megan is central to about 10 of the 12 and is in the other 2 in some way. It is telling the story of her life as she drives to figure out where she belongs, and what she should be doing. She travels from Nova Scotia and Toronto to Montana and Virginia. Covers almost all areas of Canada and the U.S. As with life, not every this is easy or smooth, and neither is the life of Megan. She struggles in almost every city she goes. Trying to fit in, and trying to find where she belongs. When reading this, I noticed the chapter titles more than the city that the chapter takes place in, but it is something that you should be paying attention to.
The book has some backup information in the back of the book, like what the the writer and artist were thinking for each chapter. After skimming it, and will read it all and probably go back and re-read this again.
devinr's review
4.0
This would get five stars except that the art sometimes left me cold. I liked the experiment, I liked the story, I liked Megan's transformation, and the only glitch was that sometimes the figures didn't feel like they were in their settings. Sometimes people and things felt like they were floating instead of resting. Which might have been a subtle artistic point, but sometimes things didn't feel connected. And that threw me at times.
radicaledwardiv's review
5.0
Loved loved loved this. I'm a fan of Brian Wood, I've read Demo, and this one did not disappoint. I love how he strings stories together, and it was really great to see at the end the though process, the behind the scenes sketches and mock-ups.
odinblindeye's review
3.0
Interesting and fun indie comic. I loved this as a slice of life from a multitude of perspectives. I think that it does suffer from some continuity problems, but it didn't distract too much.
mrsthrift's review
4.0
This oversize graphic novel is a collection of 12 issues of Local, and 12 years in the life of Megan McKeenan. Megan's got a serious case of wanderlust, and drifts to 12 cities in 12 years, setting down roots and ripping them back up. In the end, she faces the ghosts of people she left behind, and finds a little peace in standing still. Megan raises questions of identity, community, trust, friendship, and motion. Her trajectory starts in Portland, OR, then she slips through Minneapolis MN, Richmond, VA, Missoula, MT, Halifax, NS, Brooklyn, NY, Tempe, AZ, Wicker Park Chicago, IL, Norman, OK, Austin, TX, Toronto, ON, finally settling into rural Vermont in her mother's old house as she hits her 30s. Yes, Norman, OK. I've been there once or twice.
The book is about Megan, but it's also totally not about Megan. Megan becomes the projected screen where you can experience different cities and lives, a sort of new-American every person without being cloying or forced. In one chapter, she tries on different name badges and personalities, outright denying the "Rachael" of the week before to a guy she flirted with. In another chapter, artifacts of her life are stolen from her apartment to become an art exhibit for a graduating art school senior.
Ryan Kelly's drawing style really did it for me. I liked the darkness of the frames, and the beautiful way that silence took up time. In graphic novels, silent moments can get totally bulldozed as the reader flips, flips, flips past pages without dialogue, but the illustrations were dense with information, so many easter eggs in the background, and it made time move at a realistic pace (for me).
The book is about Megan, but it's also totally not about Megan. Megan becomes the projected screen where you can experience different cities and lives, a sort of new-American every person without being cloying or forced. In one chapter, she tries on different name badges and personalities, outright denying the "Rachael" of the week before to a guy she flirted with. In another chapter, artifacts of her life are stolen from her apartment to become an art exhibit for a graduating art school senior.
Ryan Kelly's drawing style really did it for me. I liked the darkness of the frames, and the beautiful way that silence took up time. In graphic novels, silent moments can get totally bulldozed as the reader flips, flips, flips past pages without dialogue, but the illustrations were dense with information, so many easter eggs in the background, and it made time move at a realistic pace (for me).
giancarlo's review
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
bridgettesbitchinbooks's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0