Customer Reviews

Bayou

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm in awe of Bayou. In fact, I literally just finished reading it (yes, I stayed up all night) and I'm anxious to find out the rest of Lee's and Bayou's story.

Let me back up a moment and offer a synopsis...

The stage is set in the beginning of this graphic novel--'30s in the south when racism is rife. Lee Wagstaff lives with her father, who she loves dearly and would do anything for (this is readily apparent within the first few pages of the story--I won't say more because it's a spoiler) and he loves her just as much.

Their lives take an unfortunate turn, however, when Lily Westmoreland, a young white girl who was playing with Lee, goes missing and due to a gross misunderstanding, Lee's father is accused and arrested for her kidnapping.

Lee saw exactly what happened to Lily, but no one believes her and with her father about to be strung up to a tree, she takes it upon herself to rescue Lily and save her father. What commences is a ride through fantasy where not everyone (or thing) you meet is sugarplums and gumdrops.

The story reminded me quite a bit of the movie Pan's Labyrinth in it's mixture of fantasy laced with reality's nuances, especially the coupling of a child's need to save someone she loves and desperation to escape from a deplorable station in life--with different creatures and mythos though.

That said, each character was well-rounded and I never sensed any of them were cardboard cut-outs. Each one had a distinct personality and faults, which made them sympathetic, especially Lee and Bayou.

The artwork is phenomenal. There's not much more that I can say about it. The lines, the colors, the layout, it all just works--and works well.

If you're squeamish about race-relations, especially in the early portions of the twentieth century, then you may not make it through because it takes no prisoners and calls it like it is (basically, it does an excellent job of creating the scene and setting the mood). But it would be a shame because hands down, this is one of the best graphic novels I've read to date.

I bought Love's webcomic compilation BAYOU on a lark -- and found it to be exceptional. A young child's adventure - with magic-realist elements - taking place in the sharecropping South of the early 20th Century. Love tells a compelling story - albeit with some one-note characterizations of the supporting cast - filled with memorable imagery and nice hooks. I heartily recommend it as a break from traditional masked adventure comics.

The bayou is a dark and frightening place. A little girl named Lee, living in Mississippi in 1933, discovers that firsthand when she dives into its murky depths to recover the body of a friend. Underwater, she finds the body, but she sees something more, a person...or maybe an evil spirit. It's hard to tell, and she has no interest in finding out. There's plenty of evil for her to deal with in the real world already.

Lee lives with her father, a sharecropper, on the Westmoreland estate. The body Lee has found at the bottom of the bayou belonged to a young black man who dared to whistle at a white woman. Lee knows as well as anyone the cold, stark reality of the world she lives in, even if she questions it persistently. When she asks her father why he doesn't fight back against the horrible brutality of the white townspeople, he explains his understanding of not only his time but of times to come. The time to fight back hasn't dawned yet. But it will. And he needs Lee strong enough to make it to that fight.

Bayou began as a webcomic under DC's Zuma imprint and is now being published in paperback form, hopefully where it will reach an even wider audience. Deserving of all the praise and awards its received, Jeremy Love's magical story is a pitch-perfect tale of hope amid oppression. With a nod to Alice in Wonderland and To Kill a Mockingbird both, Bayou takes Lee down the rabbit hole into a world that might be more dangerous than the one she comes from, and into a battle that she has no idea she's joined.

She gets drawn into it when her young friend, the daughter of the owner of the estate Lee lives on, goes missing in the bayou. Lee knows exactly what happened, exactly which monster swallowed her whole. But the white people in town are only interested in accusing Lee's father, convicting him without a trial and demanding blood. To save her father and prove his innocence, Lee will have to go into the bayou herself.

Bayou is beautifully crafted. Love's ear for dialogue is wondrous to read; his sense of historical perspective deft and subtle. As the story unfolds, we meet more and more of Lee's extended family (her late mother is alluded to only briefly), and each one is a delightfully fully fleshed out character.

Bayou is mesmerizing from start to finish.

-- John Hogan

I just finished reading Bayou (Volume One) by Jeremy Love. This was my first encounter with a graphic novel, and I am impressed. Contrary to one reviewer who states he/she stayed up all night reading it, you can read it cover to cover in about an hour. A graphic novel uses artwork to replace most of its words, so there is very little writing. You will spend more time analyzing the artwork to follow the plot than you will spend actually reading the story. With this said, the artwork is very powerful. It conveys many emotions and deals with some of the "not so nice" parts of American history, specifically Southern racism.

Due to its content, I would recommend this novel to mature young adult readers. The artwork may appeal to a younger reader, but the theme of the story isn't to be taken lightly. Racism has been deeply rooted in the South, and that is not new to us. However, younger readers may be deeply affected by some of the graphics (including lynchings, a child being swallowed by a giant, "violence" in general, etc.). I only recall one instance where profanity was used.

Love plays on the phenomenon of a fantasy-like world where Lee, a young African American girl, sets out to save her father by delivering the truth. Her daddy has been accused of a crime that he did not commit. In a "white world" he is destined to be lynched. Lee wants to prove his innocence. The world she ventures into mirrors the world she lives in." I believe that the Kansas City Star sums it best by saying this novel is "Spellbinding...powerful stuff, filled with hope and hate and trust and betrayal." The truth is, our world can be not so pleasant at times. This should not surprise anyone, but may leave younger readers full of questions and mixed emotions.

It will leave you hanging, so I encourage you to purchase Volume Two with this book. There will be a Volume Three available in the future.

The back cover quotes a central character saying, "The bayou is a bad place", but BAYOU is a beautiful book with an intriguing fantasy storyline. I picked this book up after a quick flip through and a look at the art. The art in this book was the main draw for me. Each page is a work of fine art!
I did not know a thing about the story when I purchased the book and half way through I felt that the story alone was worth the purchase. I am eagerly awaiting Volume Two.

I loved Bayou and after seeing it online, I rushed out to Amazon to purchase the book. I found myself disappointed. The book is printed on cheap paper, and the wonderful colors are muddy and brown. This makes me wary of picking up volume two. I hope betweentimes they'll improve the color and paper quality: Bayou deserves it. I haven't had this issue with other comics, such as Lackadaisy Cats or Gunnerkrig Court: these books appeared beautiful. Not so with Bayou, which is a shame.

About the plot.....

Lee Wagstaff is a bit lonely, unless racist Whites are looking for someone to shove. In a land where she is 100% expendable, Lee wants only what other kids want; friends, fun, time to herself. But then some supernatural elements get in her way. The White girl is attacked by a mysterious giant, (supposedly) dead children appear to her, and her father is arrested after the White girl vanishes.


On the setting of the story........

The American South is a land of creepy stories, though not all of them are bad. It's a land that gave us some great books; To Kill a Mockingbird, Confederacy of Dunces, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, to name a few. It's also a place with a sad history. Almost all the books from or about the South deal with racism in some way. Yet strange things happen in the great Bayous of the Mississippi Delta. Anything can happen, which is why I'm waiting for the next volume.

On the artwork.....

I wonder if this story would be taken seriously as a comic or a regular novel. Would it be longer or shorter if it were in regular print? In the last decade, graphic novels have popped up on bookshelves with regular books, not necessarily geared for kids. The artwork is wonderful, and should please anyone who appreciates great illustrations. But I still wonder if serious readers will take the chance and read the book, or dismiss it based on the cover?

As an adult, I rarely get excited about comics anymore. Either I love the artwork but hate the weak storyline, or love story but can't stand the lousy excuse for art accompanying it. Bayou by Jeremy Love ails from neither of these. It is one of the most beautifully illustrated stories I've ever seen, and has characters and plotlines that just get awesomely curiouser and curiouser!
I stumbled upon the site for Zuda Comics (an imprint of DC Comics) back around late 2007/early 2008 to find Bayou as a webcomic that was released bit by bit in a series of posts. However, I'm really not so good at patience or at visiting a site over and over again on a regular basis just to get one chapter of a story at a time. My brain really needs to have it all at once or I end up forgetting what happened before, then get confused where I am in the story. So I followed for a while but got distracted.
This year I realized that Bayou is now published and volume 1 came out in 2009 so I was able to snatch it right up. I love this crazy, almost mythical story set in 1933 Charon, Mississippi. It follows Lee Wagstaff, the daughter of a black sharecropper wrongly accused of a crime, and is uniquely written to feel magical, just like mythos of "the South". So check out the Zuda website and the webcomic Bayou at http://www.zudacomics.com/bayou or look for the print version in bookstores. I'm looking forward to getting volume 2 when it's finally released in January 11, 2011.
It truly is an amazing piece of work!
~Bella

Down south in a time of great depression lives a young black sharecropper's daughter, Lee Wagstaff, and white friend Lily Westmorelend. One day Lily loses a locket...well really its stolen by a strange creature known as Bog. Seems Bog has taken a liking to Lily and swallows her whole not too long later. Only Lee's daddy is blamed and is going to be hanged unless Lee can save him. She enters the swamp and a mysterious alternate world. A world of gods, ghosts, and monsters from times long since forgotten. Lee and her companion Bayou trek through this world trying to find Lily. Darkness is chasing after Lee and her companions...can Lee find her missing companion and her way home? Or will they remain lost.

I really love the illustrations in this work. They seem to be a combination of pastels and watercolors and Jeremy blends them together well, with rich colors and textures. The artwork really enhances the story and gives us a good idea of the people and the world that surrounds them. His talent is amazing and I can't believe that this was webcomic just because the level of detail is so extraordinary. Jeremy's ability to capture human emotion, fear, hatred, and sorrow is absolutely fantastic. You can look at the characters and instantly know what they're feeling and imagine them sitting next to you.

I like that the story pulls no punches at illustrating the harsh reality of the deep south during the time period and presenting all of the characters, even the dark ones, as human...well human like even if their animals. From the first to the last page the story is captivating and spell binding, wondering what will happen next and what evils they may encounter on their journey to the truth. My one quibble is that upon reaching the end I was disappointed that I'd have to wait till another book to read what happens next. To me this story is one that can really only be judged as a whole, not as a part.

I look forward to reading the next volume and hopefully drawing one more step to the conclusion.

I bought this as a present for my girlfriend, who first saw it through her PSP as a kind of demo, we waited for a long time to buy the two volumes. She loved it, and now it got me really interested..now I am definitely a fan of Bayou.