Dave Gibbons
The Originals (2004)
Author: Dave Gibbons
Genre: Graphic Novel (Science Fiction)
Plot Summary:
Lel and Bok, friends since childhood, shared a single dream: to be one of the Originals, the sharpest-dressing, fastest-riding, hardest-fighting hovergang in the city. After proving themselves in a fight against a rival gang, the Dirt, the boys become full-fledged members and enter a world that provides all the excitement and camraderie they dreamed about. For Lel, this world provides additional opportunities, romantic and financial. He meets and falls for a girl named Viv at the Place, the nightclub run by the Originals' leader, Ronnie. Ronnie give Lel a shot at easy money selling drugs out of the club bathroom. With his hoverscooter, his girl, his friends, and money in his pocket, Lel has "almost" everything he wants, but when gang violence at a seaside resort leaves a Dirt member dead, Lel finds himself the target of revenge. SPOILER: On the way back to the city, the Dirt attack, killing Bok and leaving Viv and Lel hospitalized. Upon his release, Lel puts a plan into action that leads to the murder of Mitch, the leader of the Dirt, and the near-certain death or imprisonment of Warren, the Originals member who started the cycle of events back at the resort. Despite realizing the futility of "kid stuff" like "fighting and hovers", Lel still has no goals beyond selling drugs and saving for a car. Viv forces him to choose between her and his directionless lifestyle in the final scene, but it is left uncertain what his choice will be.
Geographical Setting: Urban England
Time Period: Indistinct Future
Appeal Characteristics:
Despite the semi-futuristic setting, the story has a very retro feel, with no emphasis placed on advanced technology. The conflict between the Originals and the Dirt is based on the violence between young "Mods" and "Rockers" that shocked Britain in the early 1960s. The aesthetics of the world of The Originals are integral to the story. The clothing styles (slimline suits vs. leather jackets), drugs of choice (amphetamines vs. beer), and even the bikes the gangs ride (Vespa-style hoverscooters vs. Harley-style hoverchoppers) are all directly modeled after the historical differences between the rival subcultures. The clean, crisp art is effective in setting the mood of a scene through the use of shading, contrasting the bleak gray atmosphere of the city with the sharp black-and-whites of club lighting and the patterns of the Originals' "dazzlerags". The story is fast-paced and driven by events rather than characters. Lel is far and away the best-developed of the cast, yet the reader is given only a surface impression of his thoughts and motivations. Gibbons succeeds on two levels with The Originals: he has crafted an exciting, atmospheric tale of fast living and its consequences, and he has used the graphic novel medium to shift the look and feel of a specific time and place into the "timeless" confines of an alternate world. Winner of the 2005 Eisner Award for best new graphic novel.
Read-alikes: In Charles Burnes' Black Hole, a group of teenagers in the suburbs of Seattle during the mid-1970s begin to contract a sexually-transmitted "teen plague," which manifests itself in different ways in each teenager. For example, one teenager grows a tail due to the disease, while another teen sheds his skin. This story, like The Originals, deals with adolescents becoming adults, and the isolation felt during this transition. The tone of Black Hole is harshly dark, and the black and white artwork exemplifies the despair and helplessness felt by the teenagers, and really provides this graphic novel with the same overall feel as The Originals. Another teen coming-of-age story, Sloth, by Gilbert Hernandez, is the story of Miguel, who has just woken up from a year-long coma. Virtually nothing has changed for Miguel, except he now moves at a sloth-like pace, and the story features him taking on teenage suburbia with his girlfriend Lita and his band mate Romeo. The story features stylized black and white artwork, similar to the artwork found in The Originals, and readers will enjoy the similarities in characterization of Miguel in Sloth and Lel in The Originals. Set in an alternate vision of 1985 where the U.S. is nearing nuclear war with the Soviet Union, The Watchmen, by Alan Moore, is a story where superheroes are real people who must deal with ethical and personal issues while solving the mystery of a murder of one of their own. The story was illustrated by Gibbons and anyone who enjoyed his bleak and confining art in The Originals will want to see his dark and gritty take on the superhero genre. Along with the characterization of the superheroes as flawed humans, Gibbons' art helps give The Watchmen its bitter and dark tone, and the episodic pace of The Originals also is mirrored in The Watchmen. Top Ten: The Forty-Niners (2005) is another story by Alan Moore. While the "science heroes" of this story do have superhuman powers, the focus is on their all-too-human beliefs and emotions. Gene Ha provides the visuals, which evoke post-WWII SF writers' visions of the future. A more down-to-earth tale of personal morality and the consequences of violence is 100 Bullets written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated by Eduardo Risso. If you could get away with murder, scott-free, against someone who was proven to be your enemy, would you? That is the question faced by the men and women approached by the mysterious Agent Graves. The series is continuing, but the first collected volume is First Shot, Last Call(2000). In Night Fisher, by R. Kikuo Johnson, nerdy teenager Loren falls into a bad crowd, and the story is about how Loren slides into a world of petty crimes and drug use. While the story is set in Hawaii, the setting is not Hawaii's typical sunny paradise: most of the action takes place at night and the drawings show scenes of low-income neighborhoods, industrial works, among other atypical scenes of Hawaii. This makes the Hawaii in Night Fisher look extremely like the urban Britain showcased in The Originals. The characters in Night Fisher also are similar to the characters in The Originals, as they feel authentic, with realistic flaws and motivations. For those interested in Manga with a similar plot and theme to The Originals, check out Tokyo Tribes, by Santa Inoue. This story centers around Kai, the head of one of four gangs that control the streets of Tokyo, and his friends Hasheem and Tamiya. If you have read The Originals, the plot will seem very similar, as wi
ll the dark tone, the episodic pace and the dramatic black and white art. Readers who want a more character-driven story with many of the same themes should try Alex Robinson's Tricked (2005), in which the choices and actions six strangers bring their lives together in a violent climax.
Red Flags: Drug abuse and sales, graphic violence, graphic murder, non-explicit sexual activity, over 150 instances of the word "fuck" in 160 pages
|top|
|
