August 31, 2014

"I guarantee there's a "why"."

DISPLACED PERSONS
Derek McCulloch & Anthony Peruzzo
Image Comics, 2014
168 pages, cmyk, digital

The past exists through memory, there are a few things we know about it: it can be our connection to others; remembering it is crucial to avoid repeating mistakes; knowing about it can give us a better understanding of where we're heading.

"Displaced Persons" is as much about the past as it is about family.

Strange disappearances afflict the Martinez-Abramowitz-Price-Hayes-Schroeder family (read the comic, you'll get what I'm saying and why I chose this particular order) throughout its history, people seem to disappear into thin air without explanation, leaving behind grieving and broken others. But life goes on, as it should.

There's a lot to understand about "Displaced Persons", it's an entertaining comic and can be read as such, but it is also an incredibly intelligent and layered read. Derek McCulloch's achieves a sort of reverberation by the way he sets up certain "notes" that are replayed along the story, giving them a stronger and deeper meaning. Also, great dialogue and characters (one of these days I have to write something about Davy Abramowitz and his greater meaning in the book) and a solid internal logic that forces the reader to think if he/she chooses to.

Anthony Peruzzo's art is beautiful, earthy and subtly consistent, specially in terms of facial representation. There are a couple of pages that have an unfortunate layout and the reader's eyes drop to the next strip before finishing the first one, but once you get used to that choice it rarely occurs again.

But what makes you take notice about Peruzzo is his colouring, at first seemingly subdued, then you realize that it serves narrative purposes and everything makes sense.

"Displaced Persons" is a moving and, again, intelligent read and everyone should read it.