42. Demo

By: Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan

I've read a good series of great to decent graphic novels this year after being deprived of anything from that medium for about 10 months. Demo represents the end of that run.

The idea behind Demo is that its a series of unrelated vignettes about kids with superpowers who are struggling to make sense of their lives when they reach some kind of crossroads. Sounds like an ok premise- a Gen Y (or is it Z now?) alternative take on the superhero topic. Guarenteed to have some angst and sullen teens with super powers.

However.

The stories start off pretty well. A young girl who can't control her destructive power begs her boyfriend to take her away as she weans herself off the meds that keep her in check. Kids and their angst about overprescribed meds. I can buy that one.

Then it begins to go downhill. A superstrong guy stops a robbery. Ok. A girl finds out she can't die when her brother proves it to her by driving into a tree after their father's funeral. Meh. As the stories wind down, we find one story where its unclear if the teen has a super power or is just super-manipulative. The last two stories don't even have characters with super powers in them. I'm not even sure that they have a point.

As to the artwork, Cloonan's style goes back and fourth between gritty and edgy to anime-inspired, which is anything but versitle. If the story is serious, its gritty. If its humorus, its anime.

Somewhere along the line this writer/illustrator team had a good idea. Then they tried to make a series out of it. The stupid thing about this is that there are so many possibilities how does the well run dry after just a few? Sloppy. Lazy.

Skip it. Go watch Heroes instead.