I might as well start this

It's funny. I finally sit down to say something, after updating all my favorite movies, books and music onto my profile, and now that I am ready to go, I blank. Part of me wants to retreat to the kitchen and fix myself a Presbyterian (Bourbon and strong as hell ginger beer), but I really shouldn't. I can attempt to ignore the puppy who keeps putting her stuffed pink fuzzy elephant onto my bare legs, which would not be that bad if it was not covered with six months of dried spit that has effectively made it moisture-proof and glistening from a fresh batch of Boston Terrier saliva.

Anyhow, last night I finished the creator owned graphic novel The Nightly News by Jonathan Hickman, published by Image Comics, and I am still reeling from the experience. A mixture of intense graphic design, factoids complemented with charts and graphs, and boldly inked characters, the artistic stylings alone drew me in, but it was the dark rich story that made it difficult for me to fall asleep. The Nightly News concerns itself with the media of today that has become beholden to political agendas and concentrated into the ownership of handful of corporations that dictate what can and will be said in an effort to preserve their own self interest.

The book loosely follows the protagonist John Guyton, who has taken on the role of The Hand. John and his "brothers and sisters" are followers of The Voice, the unseen leader, who commands through messages prerecorded onto cassette tapes, and The Voice commands war on the media who he calls the "destroyers of lives" and the need to "stop the lies that flow from their lips." John The Hand and the followers of The Voice then set about killing news people in an effort to resurrect factual reporting in the news and not just the pursuit of profits and ratings. A grim book for sure, and one that made wonder not so much if I should send Mr. Hickman some cookies, but when I will be reading The Nightly News again. I am curious as to how much more can be taken in from a second reading, but I am afraid I will need to limber up, maybe do some stretches to get loose and oh yes, pour the Presbyterian. An amazing graphic novel.

I might as well start this