Customer Reviews

Channel Zero: Jennie One

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While nowhere as deep or moody as the first Channel Zero book - 'Jennie One,' is nonetheless not a bad read for fans of this saga. Functioning as a prequel of sorts, this book chronicles Jennie 2.5's earlier days in NYC on the eve of the passage of the Clean Act Bill and how she becomes ensconed in the new American rebellion. This book is also noteworthy in that Brian Wood turns over penciling duties to Becky Cloonan who manages to preserve the grim film noir tone of the original while brining a fresh visual approach of her own.

First off, if you're reading this, Becky, I just want to say I loved your art ever since this book first came out in 2003. In the foreword, Brian Wood said no one could do this book better than you and I agree with him without a shadow of a doubt, no one can do better than you as far as this book is concerned. It was tailor made for you.

Also, your mastery of anatomy, pencil strokes, I can't find enough good things to say about your skills as an artist.

The premise: this book tells the origin story of Jennie 3.0 from Channel Zero. We see that she doesn't have a conventional viewpoint right from the start. The chilling words "I remember this day, I remember these people dying, I remember the riots" gives us an introduction into Jennie's seemingly traumatic psyche. It sets up the intense background of the person who took matters into her own hands in the original Channel Zero. What prompted her to hate the clean act, what prompted her to act against it with such hatred and prejudice. The rest of the book tells us what Jennie believes in, tells us that beliefs can be lethal; can lead people to act against whole governments and that it really isn't that bad on the other side of the coin.

The basic question here is: Does what she believe make her an outlaw? Was she wrong or was she right? This book answers that question, or rather, lets you answer that question yourself.

Throw in the usual urban style you'd expect from Brian and this book makes its own way into the hearts of his fans. The angst is there, the anger is there, that dysfunctional vibe is there, the interesting scope into the relationships these characters hold dear is there. Everything I liked about Brian Wood's writing is here and, furthermore, there's a maturity here not present in the first Channel Zero book. He's come a long way in terms of writing skill and you can see that from every one of these pages. The script he's written for this is a sign of artistic maturity for sure. Maybe that's why Becky's art looks so much like what Brian went for in the original book; the stylistic sensibilities look alike.

Read Channel Zero then read this, just a literary treat from start to finish, this one.
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