Channel Zero [Paperback]

Brian Wood (Author), Warren Ellis (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2000

Special interest groups have bullied the government into passing the Clean Act, effectively killing freedom of speech and silencing the country into submission. TV and God become one and the same as America wages its own holy war against its citizens. Meet Jennie 2.5, media slut turned info-terrorist, out to save the country from itself, and restore free will and self expression. Hailed internationally as ground-breaking work in the field of sequential art, Channel Zero challenges and tests the limits, combining current events and no-future shock into a dark, paranoid, deep-ambient visual narrative.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A powerful combination of plot and narrative...striking and expressive." -- Re:Mote Induction

"Dramatic Black and White visuals...Controlled sense of rhythm." -- ID Magazine

Someone`s remembered what comics are for Meet Brian Wood. -- Warren Ellis, award-winning writer of Planetary

Wood’s message is clear enough: apathy is the real enemy, and it is harder to fight than any totalitarian government. -- Maurice Martin, Wired Magazine

From the Publisher

Best known for his graphic narrative Channel Zero, Brian Wood also spent a year writing Mutant Teenagers from Marvel Comics` Generation X . He devoted four years previous to studying at the prestigious Parsons School of Design in New York City. A veteran designer from the Internet boom of the late nineties, Wood currently designs for the stylish and much-respected videogame publisher, Rockstar Games.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: AiT/PlanetLar (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967684749
• ISBN-13: 978-0967684741
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #995,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brian Wood released his first graphic novel, Channel Zero, in 1997 to considerable critical acclaim and has continued to create at a brisk pace ever since. Focusing almost entirely on creator-owned projects, he's become one of the most important indie creators of the last decade. Standout books include his The Couriers and Channel Zero series, Demo, Local and Supermarket. He's earned multiple Eisner Award nominations and editions of his work have been published in close to a dozen foreign markets. Currently under an exclusive contract for DC/Vertigo, Wood continues to write his unique brand of iconoclastic creator-owned work with DMZ, Northlanders, Demo and The New York Four.

Brian lives with his wife and daughter in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brian Wood's Been Watching, November 7, 2000

By 

Mark W. Rushford (Springfield, Vermont United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Channel Zero (Paperback)

CHANNEL ZERO is what happens when people pay attention.

When Brian Wood eyes the world around him he recognizes something is wrong, and rather than sit back on his arse and watch the rear-inclined, Orwellian propaganda machine gallop and trample the forgotten soul of America he calls us on it. He flips off the holier than thou Right Wingers, and gives a much needed elixir to those inflicted with the fastest growing disease in America: Complacence.

Brian Wood's Channel Zero combines a gripping speculative flair with a hard edged present-day social commentary that acts as a mirror for the rotting, backward contemporary culture. And rather than stop there, he dares us to move forward and embrace a different kind of America.

It isn't pretty, it isn't flashy, and it most certainly is not sugar coated, feel-good fare; there's too much of that already littering bookshelves everywhere - and CZ is the scolding for it! But if you're looking for a literate, smart, unapologetic graphic novel, look no further, because CHANNEL ZERO is a phenomenal work by the most important comics writer to come along in quite some time. Brian Wood is a pill for the conscience.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great At Date of Publication, Prophetic in Retrospective, November 28, 2006

By 

Matthew Wilding "a jack of all things" (Jamaica Plain, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Channel Zero (Paperback)

Channel Zero is the tale of a New York art student living in the midst of change for the worse in America. New laws and fears have brought about change in society and leave our bill of rights in bloody tatters on the ground. While many sit down and revel in their safety, protagonist Jennie 2.5 decides to do something about it. Through truly groundbreaking design/comic art, author/artist Brian Wood dumps us off with Jennie as she puts her propaganda plan to wake up the masses into full throttle, only to find out that she's probably in over her head and not necessarily as free of America's faults as she thinks she is.

In addition to Jennie, cameos of other people from other angles are shown throughout the book. Whether in one page bios introducing characters that would be used in future B. Wood comics, or in mini stories, such as that of the activist-assassinating "cleaner" that is only doing her job, Brian weaves a whole world for us to look into that, while primitive at times, is still real enough to scare the hell out of us.

The greatest part of Channel Zero, though, is not it's art, or even it's story. It is it's fallout. Published in comic form back in the 1990s, and in graphic novel for the first time in 2000, this book is a pre-9/11 look into the post-9/11 world. With an oppressive "Clean Act" that is terribly remniscent of the USA PATRIOT Act of the real world, it was as if Brian was trying to warn us of the coming socio-political onslaught.

It's never too late to start listening.

5.0 out of 5 stars book review, December 22, 2011

By 

scott - See all my reviews

This review is from: Channel Zero (Paperback)

CHANNEL ZERO is what happens when people pay attention. is an awesome whiz bang graphic novel i love it alot