Customer Reviews

Dead Enders: Stealing the Sun

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I stumbled upon this comic by chance, a fellow Vespa rider recommending I pick up the "comic with scooters in it." Although I collect scooter-related stuff, I was surprised by how this story gained my interest. Not much violence, no super-heroes, but an engaging story with well-executed illustration. If you're looking for something that is an alternative to good-battling-evil and mindless sitcom stories, pick up this realistic story that is tempered with a bit of science fiction and mystery. If you like scooters, you'll find their plentiful inclusion a bonus. I would actually give it 3.5 stars. 4 stars if the whole 16 issues were collected here.

Twenty years after "the cataclysm", New Bedlam is a bleak metroplis divided by the authorities into fenced-off sectors dilineated by wealth and class, all policed by stormtrooper-type policemen. In the outer sectors, a post-cataclysm nuclear winter type phenomenon means 24 hour darkness, while in the wealthy areas, weather machines can generate sunlight and temperate climates. The story takes place mostly in an outer sector where a group of teenagers styled on the mod subculture run around on scooters and deal in amphetamines. One of these mods seems have visions of the past, and the authoroties are trying to find him in order to study him for some unxplained reason. In the meantime, he's trying to steal a weather generator to fulfill a friend's dying wish. Although the story is somewhat disjointed and has a number of grey areas, it's visually compelling, with a nice palate and good action art. The use of basic mod style touchstones, such as parkas, scooters, and arrows is kind of interesting, but that's about all. Of course, Chynna Clugston-Major's "Blue Monday" comic series also uses mod characters and stylings. For a pulp fiction treatment of the original mod subsulture, check out Howard Baker's novel "Sawdust Caesar". "The Sharper Word" anthology edited by Pablo Hewitt is another book to check out.

The worst of Brubaker is still a cut above the rest.

This book collects only the first four issues.I would have preferred a collection of series in it entirety. Luckily the remaining issues can be found several places online for about a dollar per issue.

I recommend this series for mature readers but suggest saving money by purchasing the original printings.

Ed Brubaker's deadenders hasn't reached the grand disinfo/revolutionary, world-changing, thick cultural commentary of its now dead Vertigo peer The Invisibles. But comparison to what is probably the best comic book of the decade is a tall order, and I only make it because deadenders really is so good, and transverses some of the same countercultural territory.

What's really beautiful is how Ed Brubaker appropriates Mod culture so precisely and updates it for a uniquely "post" world - not post-apocalyptic, post-cataclysmic, and there's a difference. This is like William Gibson with parkas, addidas, and Vespas. I'd call it Grey Pop.

Like the best futurism, deadenders is pretty darn relevant to the current social landscape and sub/counterculture. Ed Brubaker has an innovative and unique take on the whole notion of time travel, and I'd suspect that if you get this graphic novel, you'll probably go out to the local comic shop and pick up issue #5 and not stop till you get caught up and probably not then either. Ed Brubaker really knows how to write a mystery, and though deadenders is by no means part of the mystery genre, it certainly pulls you in with the same power.

Part of it might be my love of Mod culture, but this is my favorite current Vertigo book.

Change the world.

I actually got this at a second hand book store for dirt cheap, This was at a time where I had just started buying graphic novels (I've been buying comic books for four years, not actual graphic novels.) so I picked it up and paged through it. It was only 45 rand (about 5 dollars to you guys.) so I quickly payed for it and was on my way.

I had then read it in a quick period of time and then put it in my book shelf thinking "It was good I guess." and then went to bed. Note: I had just started reading graphic novels and didn't really know what was good and what was bad. My conclusion at that point was "it's great!". The next week I went to a local comic shop to purchase some graphic novels, bought a couple of books and went on back on home. I then decided to read dead enders again after the other books I had read, It was actually quite a dissapointment after I read it, realizing that it was ok, not great anymore.

The story bassicly follows a character named Beezer and his best friend named Jasper, these guys are just trying to surve a world where every cop is corrupt, and can't go to outer sectors. Beezer is a drug deeler who sells a drug called AMP, and is involved in other street crime. This is the world of the dead enders.

So down to the plusses and negatives of this book. First of all it's too short, huge effective things happen too early in the story. The ending is very dissapointing and is a bit of a "everyone lives happilly ever after" ending. The art gets very old after a while, and sometimes very annoying. And now for the plusses. The Idea is great! Set in a world where a cataclysm had just happened, so the people who survive it have to live in a city where everyone is effected. The coulering suites the enviroment of the setting with some bright colours in the rich sectors, and some dull colours in the poor areas. So Overall this graphic novel is really a "What's the big deal?" conclusion, only buy it if it's in a bargain bin or something, but if you want brilliant graphic novels go for Watchmen, and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. That's all I have to say.

I'm a sucker for interesting and original dystopias, and this one fits the bill. The disaster which changed civilization is alluded to very mysteriously, and the main character's ability to see the pre-cataclysm world in fits and starts is genuinely engrossing. The main of gang of kids all being mods is a head scratcher (do you even see any mods now?) but the characters are well drawn out and imperfect but enjoyable. The lead is written as a kind of a jerk but one who is capable of sentiment and compassion, without any tension, a hard thing to bring off. The subplots, from government scientists and the theft of a weather generator to give a dying fried a perfect last day, worked well, and the weird, tripped out 60s teen comic version at the end was a nice touch too. There are a couple of false notes though, like the doomsayers who walk around with an ear turned up, some awkward artwork, and a culmsily written scene between the lead and his mom. All in all though, recommended.