September 9, 2003
ONE BAD DAY
Written and Drawn by Steve Rolston
Published by Oni Press
Marie is a young woman who really, really needs to quit smoking. In fact, if you know of a young person who is considering taking up the filthy habit, please give them this book to read. You see, thanks to her need to buy cigarettes or to replace ones she’s recently bought and lost, Marie winds up in some very wrong places at very bad times. That allows her to have the One Bad Day as described in the title of the book.
A chance encounter with a long absent friend sets her on her way to being shot at, witnessing a murder, being sexually harassed, chased by some scary bad guys, and discovering the aftermath of a nasty set of murders. Of course, none of this compares to having to attend a family birthday party for a cousin she can’t stand, but you can kind of see where she might have a beef. Fortunately, this turns out to be a pleasant experience for you, the reader, so all’s well that ends well.
Rolston, best known for stints as the artist on Oni’s QUEEN AND COUNTRY and Warren Ellis’ MEK, handles all the chores here, scripting what is (to my knowledge) his first long form work. He does surprisingly well. Smartly, he limits the number of characters with which he has to deal with, and that makes it much easier for him to work out speech patterns and cadence. The characters feel mostly fresh, with the exception of sad sack Justin, the best friend, my favorite being Tinman. He exudes a nice sense of confused menace that added well to the atmosphere of the book.
The plot stays fairly focused and feels breezy. I’d liken it to watching RUN LOLA RUN. The one place where the book doesn’t quite fly high at times, much to my surprise, was the art. There’s a strange inconsistency to it. There are pages in a row of really nice work with detailed backgrounds, then shifts to sparse panels of talking heads. It really left me scratching my head. Rolston has shown himself to be a very capable guy. I wondered if maybe the enormity of the project dictated his level of detail at times. Still, I can’t deny a recommendation on that basis. The book on the whole is really nicely done.
Over the past year, it seems as though Oni Press has really started to shift their focus in the marketplace and started producing more original graphic novels (as opposed to running them as a mini-series first and then collecting the work). As a reader, I can’t give this a big enough thumbs-up. Many readers are now deciding to save their hard earned cash and purchase a complete story when it’s ready and on the shelves. So why not get them that story sooner and get their cash sooner?
Solid art, solid story. Done in one from the very start. ONE BAD DAY is worth your time. Grade: B+
Should It Be A Movie?
I think the potential for a really good adaptation to film is strong for this graphic novel.
As I noted earlier, reading the book gave a strong feeling of watching a top-notch indy flick like RUN LOLA RUN. Even better, there’s a small hint of Cameron Crowe’s dark side lurking in the background of the story that makes me wonder what a director of that caliber would do with the material. There’s definitely room to work and shape a screenplay that keeps the tension high and the humor to the minimal spots where it needs to be. Cast a really good actress, say Maggie Gyllenhaal, and you’d be off to the races.
Box office prospects would likely be small, depending on word of mouth, so budget would be modest at best. However, a low-budget take on this book is precisely what’s called for in avoiding compromising the author’s vision. Add in a long life on DVD, and the prospects for a nicely profitable film are good. I hope I get to see it some day.
Also Reviewed:
SHOT CALLERZ
Written by Gary Phillips and Drawn by Brett Weldele
Published by Oni Press
Now this was a tasty slice. Reading this book brought me back to the 1970s in the best possible way. Phillips’ tale of theft, betrayal and revenge re-ignited the Blaxploitation genre for me in a way I only thought possible by looking at pictures of Pam Grier. Nea Garvin helps her boyfriend rip-off her boss, looking forward to settling down in a love nest with the money. Unfortunately, the boyfriend shoots her in the back, leaves her for dead, and the boss has come calling and wants his money back. Not so good. So Nea has to escape, track the boyfriend’s ass across the country, get her share of the money and get her revenge, all while dodging the boss who wants her dead. It seemed like every page of this book had some zest to it, and I felt nothing but love for it. It played out as a movie in my head as I read it (K.D. Aubert, call your agent), and that’s no jive. Grade: A
BROAD APPEAL
Written and Drawn by Various
Published by Friends of Lulu
I admire the idea of this anthology, even if I don’t completely love the execution. Getting more women to read and enjoy comics has to be one of the highest priorities for the survival of the medium. We cannot live with a 90% male readership. So the FoL are out there doing a great service for comics in trying to broaden the horizons of readership. They also do a wonderful job of pointing out the work of female cartoonists and writers who work in the industry in the hopes of bringing attention to their work. Bless them. However, like most anthologies, this book is far too hit-and-miss to be really effective. For every wonderful piece like Raina Telgemeier’s BEGINNINGS or Ariel Bordeaux and Ellen Forney’s HAIR IN OUR EYES, you get a clunker like Sarah Newhouse’s CANDY MOUTH or June K’s SHEEP SHEEP SLEEP. So, we give the Friends Of Lulu an “A” for effort but a grade of C for execution.
Send all review copies to: Marc Mason, 1756 S. College Ave, Tempe, AZ, 85281. Send all charming and witty e-mail responses to the address below. Send hate mail to editor-in-chief Chris Ryall. Trust me. He loves that stuff.
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