Check out our review of Brian Wood’s Demo.

Demo
Publisher: Vertigo
Writer: Brian Wood
Illustrator: Becky Cloonan
$19.99 │323 Pages│Black & White │Mature Readers

Premise: From two of comic’s most innovative young creators, writer Brian Wood and artist Becky Cloonan, comes twelve stories of young people standing at a crossroads, each faced with a life-altering decision in a world where merely living is hard enough.

Review: When you turn the last page Demo leaves you feeling raw. Not a painful feeling, but one that comes from having the most identifiable human emotions surfaced in you without warning. Feelings of love, of grief, of abandonment and of desire are all woven into the fantasy and fiction of Demo.

Demo is told through twelve short stories, all seen through the eyes of individuals at a crossroads in their life. These young adults not only have the normal angst associated with the tumultuous time in their lives, but must deal with great power. Power to change their lives. Power to end or begin something. Or power manifested in the form of something supernatural.

Wood doesn’t apologize for keeping these stories short. He doesn’t make amends for the fact that as soon as you are feeling an affinity for a character, the tale ends. The truth is, if the story had continued the effect wouldn’t be the same. Sometimes not knowing if everything is going to be alright is more memorable, no matter how much your heart breaks with the possibilities. Each story isn’t about the destination, is about the biting emotions that a character feels along the way. Life isn’t perfect – or easy – and Demo does a magical job of illustrating that.

The first tale is one of high school sweethearts who are escaping from the young girl’s overbearing mother. Perhaps overbearing is too harsh, as the girl in the story has a power that manifests as an illness if she doesn’t take her pills. This keeps her on a short leash at home. Unable to take it any longer, they take off for the archetypal big city. They don’t know what to expect when the clock ticks past her threshold – how she will change without her medication? What will her power do when left unchecked? Will she still be the same person? Is she a danger to herself and others? Will he still want her? There is no going back now.

Then there is the little girl who lives alone with her near-catatonic mother in a trailer park. The girl refuses to speak – ever. At a young age she discovered that no one could deny her what she asked, or ordered. The control over her peers and elders was fun at first, but now as a teen she has regrets and guilt that won’t diminish over time. She can’t take back what she says, even if she orders someone to drop dead in a moment of blind anger. She can’t take anything back even if she wishes she could. Even if she did the unthinkable to her own mother. When things get thick, what will she do now?

Another story. What if you were drafted into a war you didn’t believe in because you are a perfect shot. Never miss. Ever. What if you are a major asset to the armed forces but a little piece of you dies every time you end a life. What if you finally muster the courage to leave the daily torture only to have your wife ridicule you. Instead of understanding your inability to continue taking lives, she instead spouts rage about health insurance and money. What if she wanted you to become a murderer, to risk life and limb. What if she asks “Isn’t your family worth it?”

And then there is my favorite story of all. One that I still don’t understand entirely, but one that wrenched sadness from me because of the pure tragedy. A couple lives a happy life – one full of sunshine and kitties. They have a routine and go through the same motions daily. Then, one morning, everything changes. The man wakes only to find his girlfriend dead on the kitchen floor – an audio cassette by her feet. She looks beautiful. He doesn’t react. Out comes a single gasp, then nothing. The reality is impossible. Life without her doesn’t exist, so his mind refuses to accept the obvious. He plays the tape. His girlfriend apologizes for forgetting the coffee, as she had a lot on her mind.

Somehow the tape turns into a conversation. She tries to convince him that everything will be okay by answering  his unspoken questions. Eventually she asks if they ever really knew each other. Or, were they simply in love with the idea of love? The tape becomes a metaphor for their whole relationship, which much like their coupling, is at an end.

Trials and tribulations are the common thread in all these tales. Some have happy endings. Some don’t. Some preserve the status-quo, no better or worse than when they picked a path on their particular crossroads. However, all of the stories feel human, even the supernatural ones.

The art is enjoyable. Cloonan explores a vast spectrum of art styles, giving each story a life of its own. Some are crisp and clean. Others are sketchy. Others still are highly stylized. The illustrations always go hand in hand with the message or tone conveyed.

Wood took a risk with Demo. It is hard to categorize exactly what the trade is – what it tries to accomplish. The short slice-of-life format becomes more emotionally captivating than nearly any ongoing series I have come across. Every single story made me stop, made me think, made me grasp at straws in order to relate.

Demo isn’t a pick-me-up – meaning don’t read it if you are feeling fragile – but it is a must-read no less.  There is something for everyone to connect with in Demo, and it acts as a reminder that we are all more human than we care to believe.

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