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Comic Review by:
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"Sweet" Dan Sweet |
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Artists: |
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Josef Cage and Raymund Lee |
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“...the kind of story that is bound to be discovered and enjoyed again and again
by fans of all sorts of genre fiction..”
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 You
probably haven’t heard of Nikola Jajic, and that’s fine. No, really, it is.
While this ISN’T the guy’s first foray into the world of Indy Comics/Graphic
Novels/insert-clever-buzzword-here, “Devil’s Island” is far and away the
author’s most prolific work to date. Is ‘prolific’ the right word? I could have
easily said ‘coolest’ or ‘best written and illustrated’ (which would be several
words). I could praise Jajic’s ability to weave an intriguing yarn from French
history, a subject I know very little of. While each of those is an apt
description of how I felt about the book, none really paint a complete picture
the way ‘prolific’ does. It’s really THAT good.
Let me preface the rest of this review by stating quite clearly that I would NOT
heap false praise upon this book if I didn’t really enjoy it. In fact, I’m not
sure I went into this thinking I would like it; ‘Historical
Thriller’-slash-‘Prison Drama’ didn’t sound like my thing. I remember first
seeing unfinished pages pop up on Nik’s Facebook page, and thinking to myself
“Damn, that’s really pretty, but Historical Fiction? Really, dude?!” It is with
very little chagrin that I would like serve myself up a big, fat plate of crow,
for it’s not until someone forces you too look at a subject more closely that
you realize how wrong you may have been in your judgments.
Jajic opens the book with a dead body and a little levity, a gruesome
combination, sure, but a good laugh mixed in amongst the rather heavy subject
matter was unexpected, and appreciated. Readers are quickly whisked around on a
tour of the island-prison before being introduced to one of the book’s central
characters, Pierre, a prisoner charged with hunting down any would-be escapees.
He and his band of Hunters make up the heart and soul of the story, a story
about loss and penance, the illusion of freedom, imprisonment, and pain.
Pierre’s partners, Henri, Jean, and Rat, pass the time in their barracks when
they aren’t tracking down other prisoner’s or disposing of dead bodies. It’s
this juxtaposition of freedom/captivity that make the characters so endearing;
they live in their cabin, enjoy tea/coffee, they sleep in beds, they even play
cards, but they are NOT free men. Not by a long shot. Their stories with regard
to how they came to be prisoners of Devil’s Island are tragic, particularly that
of Henri, as these are mostly honor-bound men who simply made mistakes in
judgment that resulted in life sentences. Other than each other, pain and
anguish seem to be the men’s only companions.
Despised by guards and feared by the other prisoners, the Hunters can only truly
trust one another. When their skills are put to the test tracking two extremely
violent escapees, while armed more than sharpened sticks and knives, well,
things get a little hairy. The book moves very quickly here, and despite their
being the stars of the story it’s very easy to forget that the Hunters are NOT
considered ‘good guys’ in their own world, which makes what happens next all the
more tragic.
Jajic pulls a fast one on readers, diverting our attention away from the
human-drama that until this point has driven the story, but only long enough to
smack us in the face with it by book’s end. It’s a sneaky ploy, and he’s a sly
dog for pulling it off, but it’s a truly effective move that I should have
caught on to, but didn’t see coming. The action is intense, made even more so by
everything that the Hunters have risked, and to borrow a phrase, the payoff is
both ‘bloody’ and ‘satisfying’. Then Jajic, somehow, manages to up the stakes
once more, twisting the definition of the word ‘freedom’, contorting it into
some sort of dark, depressing place, removing from it any shred of hope or
happiness. In other words, it’s heavy, dude.
Speaking of ‘heavy’, what a load artist Josef Cage was made to endure! In a book
with no costumed heroes and villains beating the holy hell out of each other,
Jajic delivers a story that is both interesting and as ‘adult’ as it comes.
Cage’s pencils elevate that story and make it a sight to behold. I mentioned
earlier that I was quite taken with the preview images that I saw a year or so
ago, and thankfully the artwork is as consistently beautiful throughout the
graphic novel as any of those pages.
Cage’s use of negative space, his ability to cram detail into a panel when it’s
called for, and the opposite, his ability to take very little and deliver an
emotional impact is extremely impressive. This is easily one of the best looking
Indy books I’ve ever seen. I don’t know where Nik found this guy, but I hope he
keeps him locked in a basement somewhere, chained to a drawing table, cranking
out comics for a long, LONG time.
“Devil’s Island” combines all of the best elements of Historical Fiction, Prison
Drama, Action Movies, and Revenge Thrillers, delivering a decidedly different
piece of work. It’s adult in a way that most ‘Mature Readers’ titles only dream
of being; it’s not a book that pulls its punches, and it doesn’t rely on
in-your-face sex or violence to get its point across. It’s a well written and
beautifully illustrated book that is deserving of your attention, and more than
likely your praise. It’s the kind of story that is bound to be discovered and
enjoyed again and again by fans of all sorts of genre fiction, as it grabs a
hold of a reader’s attention on the first page, keeping it in a chokehold until
the last. You probably haven’t heard of Nikola Jajic or Josef Cage, and that’s
fine. No, really it is, because you will. Everyone will, and probably sooner
rather than later.
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All Books/Characters pictured herein are © Copyright 2011 by their respective
owners. No rights given or implied by Alternate Reality, Incorporated.
Reviews © 2011 Alternate Reality, Inc.
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