Customer Reviews

The Complete Essex County

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This hardcover collects Jeff Lemire's trilogy of graphic novels (plus some bonus stories) set in rural Essex County in Ontario, Canada. Lemire provides both the story and black-and-white artwork in this fictionalized account of life in his hometown. The first book "Tales From The Farm" centers on middle-school age Lester who lives on his uncle's farm after his mother's death. Unhappy with home and school, Lester develops a friendship with gentle, childlike ex-hockey player Jimmy who now runs the local gas station. This first segment sometimes seems slow, but contains plot seeds that blossom by the third book. I enjoyed the references to the 1979 Topps hockey card set.
The second and longest book "Ghost Stories" tells of the relationship between brothers Lou and Vince, primarily through a series of an aging and regretful Lou's flashbacks. This was the most interesting and powerful of the three graphic novels. The third book "The Country Nurse" follows the titular nurse on a few workdays around the county meeting characters from the first two books, as well as some history of Essex County. A common theme is undying love for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The book ends with a delightful genealogic chart that maps the trilogy's characters. I had a lukewarm reaction to the first book but enjoyed it more as I kept reading and would recommend this hardcover, especially to hockey fans.

I've been thoroughly enjoying Jeff Lemire's SWEET TOOTH series from DC Comics' Vertigo imprint, and had been interested in reading his collected ESSEX COUNTY book for awhile now. I finally purchased a copy at this year's (2010) San Diego Comic Con (from the publisher's booth) and devoured the thing in one reading. To put it simply, this is one of the best graphic novels I've ever read (and I've been a comic book reader for over 30 years). I was truly moved by the simple yet poignant stories in this volume. I especially love Lemire's unconventional and sparse artwork that still manages to convey so much depth and emotion in each panel. I hate reading comics that are cluttered with so many word balloons that it's an effort to read through a page. Lemire has a wonderful knack for creating stories with a minimum of dialogue but that are still complex and full of intersting characters. There are not many writer/artists who can do this as effectively as Lemire shows here (and as he also does in SWEET TOOTH, and his other Vertigo graphic novel THE NOBODY). Lemire is clearly a huge talent, both as a writer and an artist, and I look forward to enjoying his new works for years to come.

This book collects together what I think is one of the greatest achievements in comics in the last 10 years, Jeff Lemire's Essex County stories.

Essex County is a part of Ontario, Canada, and the three books collected here - Tales from the Farm, Ghost Stories, and The Country Nurse - explores the area and it's inhabitants.

Tales from the Farm follows a lonely boy called who has recently lost his mother, never knew his father, and is in the care of his uncle. The two have an awkward relationship as they struggle to come to terms with grief and the balance of their relationship. Lester draws comics and dresses as a superhero, and finally makes a friend in the form of Jimmy LeBeuf, a gas station attendant who used to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs before an injury brought an end to his career. The two find a small measure of happiness in their bleak lives in their time talking together about comics and hockey.

Ghost Stories follows the story of two brothers, Lou and Vince LeBeuf, who play minor league hockey in Toronto. They both dream of making it into the big leagues but Vince (the more gifted of the brothers at hockey) meets a girl, marries her, drops hockey, and starts a family and farm out in the country. Lou tries to crack the major leagues but incurs a career ending injury and spends his life driving a tram in Toronto. A dark secret splits these once close brothers so that they never speak for decades.

The Country Nurse follows the story of Anne Byrne who looks after Lou LeBeuf as well as other people in Essex County. We find out about her lonely home life and her family's ancestors. The revelations in her family tie together the LeBeuf family and ties the trilogy together.

Also included are the stories "The Essex County Boxing Club" and "The Sad and Lonely Life of Eddie Elephant Ears" as well as "Barnyard Scraps: Bonus Material".

Lemire's artwork is nothing short of breathtaking. The haunting shadows of the bleak landscapes and the expressions on his characters' faces stay with you long after you've put the book down. There are many pages which stay in mind: Lou and Vinnie LeBeuf's final embrace, Lester and Uncle Kenny sitting down to dinner, Anne sitting at her kitchen table crocheting to Roy Orbison, and the final few pages with the crow. They're all imbued with a quiet tragedy and melancholy that you don't often see from comics.

If you're a fan of comics but in particular the kind that you hope will match Will Eisner's "Contract with God Trilogy" for emotional power coupled with masterful storytelling and artwork you wish was big enough to decorate your walls, Jeff Lemire's "The Complete Essex County" is your book. I can't recommend it higher.

I am relatively new to reading this genre. I bought it for my partner but partially because of the regional location of it. I grew up in Cleveland area, but anywhere around Great Lakes region always grabs my interest. The stories were stark and moving. Sad but reality based, just life as life is for many people. Nothing extraordinary or glamorous, but the book exudes plenty of emotion. Sadness, growth, independence, love and loss, caring, regret, deception. I loved the regional feel of it, the hockey, the snow, the bird that appears throughout, and I got reminded of CKLW- the radio station I remember hearing in Cleve-back in the day. Search it on goog and it's still a station- news out of Windsor- it had been a top 40 radio station- pioneering the top 40 format back when I was a listener (mid60s-70s). I will surely check out more of Jeff Lemire's work.
-thanks Jeff!

Essex County is a powerful story that will pull at your heartstrings from the moment that you pick it up. Lemire weaves three seemingly distinct stories of families in Essex County, spanning multiple timelines, and then...quietly without the reader even noticing he weaves them together into a story on community and family. Lemire has crafted a timeless tale, one that will still hold meaning long into the future as it touches upon topics that will never grow old. He brings a unique look and perspective at the world that his characters inhabit and how their stories together form the roots of the community. The characters are well crafted and as you read along you find yourself starting to recognize them in people that you know. And you can't help but feel moved at their stories and wonder what happens to them long after you finish the book.

The artwork in these stories is absolutely beautiful. Lemire shows a deft hand at capturing the emotions and expressions of his characters and the world that surrounds them with pen and ink. Each line on the craggy faces of the characters shows their age, experience, wisdom, and regrets at life gone by. And in the landscapes you see the beauty and the harshness of the world that they live in.

I highly recommend this book.

How many ordinary people live with deep troubling secrets? Who can imagine that the dull-witted guy that works the register at a rural gas station was once briefly a hockey star? How does an aging man live with himself and the mistakes he made years ago, which are only multiplied as the years go on?

Jeff LeMire, in this groundbreaking, colossal graphic novel, addresses all of these issues and many more. His characters are so real that the book feels autobiographical. Set in rural Canada, the situations ring so true, yet maybe this only disguises the level of his artistry.

This book screams out for the continued existence of paper books. Hefty in pages and paper size, the drawings are weighty, powerful black ink on paper. You don't just read this book; you experience and feel it on a visceral level. The book is published by Top Shelf, which is a perfect description for the care and quality materials they use when printing this luxurious volume.

LeMire's genius in storytelling is matched by his drawings. He uses an impressionistic style that is so powerful, so real, it is nearly hallucinatory; we not only see how the characters see their world, but we feel it. This is sheer genius.

This is one of the greatest of graphic novels, in the league of Maus, or Eisner's Contract With God. It is easily the best serious non-superhero graphic novel in the last decade. LeMire is busy doing more traditional books for DC now, and even his own twisted "Sweet Tooth" but this is the book to read if you want to see him at his best. The haunting images and emotional stories here will linger with you forever.

I read this after seeing it attacked by the panelists of Canada Reads, and quite honestly have fallen in love with this book. I'm a college student in New York, and this is definitely not a child's comic book but a full fledged novel (and a damn good one at that). I have recommended it to all of my friends and even my boss. Every one of them so far has enjoyed it as much as I did.

I was never a fan of comics/graphic novels before. So I decided to read my first one and I thought that Essex County would be a great book to start. Thanks to Canada reads, I have found out about this book. I enjoyed this book very much. The link between the books makes this book a very interesting read.