The Heroic Mosh of Mary’s Son
By Malcy Duff

Malcy Duff’s an excellent creator-one of Britain’s leading comics artists-and this book show’s him at the top of his game.  He won’t appeal to everyone-he’s one of our more avant-garde creators.  Anyone who can spend 16, nine-panel pages hypnotising us with a character moshing to his stereo deserves applauding.  It’s made all the sweeter by his people, who look barely human at all. Rather they’re two dripping clocks shy of a Dali painting.

The story involves Mary, a woman who screams herself into a coma whilst at a concert.  The crowd at the gig are as human looking as can be-well drawn people-which makes the representations of the two main characters all the more confusing. But it’s confusing in a sexy way.   While in the coma she becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son, becoming a media sensation.  Fast forward 16 years and the mother and now teenage son are living a reclusive life, away from the media’s glare, save for some persistent photographers camped on the edge of the woods, where our protagonist calls home.

Rather than being drawn, a lot of things are just described.  An oblong shape with ‘record player’ written inside and loads of squares with ‘poster’ on them.  Other times things are shown in grotesque detail, up close, only revealing themselves a few panels down the line.

I’ve had this book a couple of months now and why no one else has taken it upon themselves to shout it’s brilliance from the roofs is beyond me.  Maybe ‘brilliant’ is too strong a word but I tend to get me over excited about comics that challenge me while avoiding clichés.  It’s just I’ve not seen many other comics like it.  Some might call it an ‘art comic,’ a label I’ve tried to avoid.  The narrative is well written enough for it not to be an art comic, but the pacing and the sets and close-ups all reveal an artist able to show you things you’ve seen before from a completely new angle.

The book a very good introduction to Duff’s work; it eases you into to his off-kilter universe.  It’s more accessible as a story than others while retaining an experimental aesthetic.  There’s a lot of space in the book for you to figure out what the hell he’s going on about and then when you do he starts on something else, again giving you time to catch up before delivering his personal money shot.

–Oliver East