1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"...and when praying doesn't help me focus, beating the $#!% out of something usually does. Not very Buddhist of me, I suppose.", December 6, 2009
This review is from: Fight for Tomorrow (Paperback)
Writer Brian Wood's indie style on stuff like
Demo,
Local,
Supermarket, and DMZ (
DMZ Vol. 1: On the Ground) has earned him good street cred. And not that FIGHT FOR TOMORROW, his 2002 mini-series for Vertigo, will enhance that rep any bigger - because hardly anyone read it - but it's still a good, interesting read and it introduces a pretty riveting character in Cedric Zhang. This trade collects issues #1-6 of the mini-series, and fans of martial arts and gritty storytelling should give this a whirl.
Seeing Cedric slump his way down the streets of New York City's Chinatown, you don't look at him twice or think much of him, or if you do momentarily dwell on him it's probably in a disparaging context. There's never a time in this story in which Cedric doesn't exhibit a bruise or a bandage or two. Bruises on his person, bruises on his spirit. FIGHT FOR TOMORROW is a tale of survival and of a desperate life heading nowhere good. A lifetime of brutality and being forced to compete in illegal underground fights since childhood has left Cedric Zhang a broken young man.
The only thing that's made it even remotely tolerable was his close friendship with a young girl and fellow captive named Christy, and these two basically grew up together. Six months ago Christy and Cedric escaped from that hellish life and made a fresh start half a world away in New York City. Then, three weeks ago Christy vanished.
Artists Denys Cowan and Kent Williams's stylish, atmospheric art sinks you in a melancholy mood. And I don't often mention colorists, but Lee Loughridge's palette, rife with muted oranges and browns, really brings across the grit and drabness of the Chinatown landscape, the harshness of Cedric's existence. Brian Wood once more emphasizes human drama over action, although there IS plenty of crunchy, bruising full contact smackdowns. Wood excels in establishing those quiet slices of human drama, and we're never more immersed into Ced's world as when he's praying at a Buddhist temple or hunkered over in his rathole of a room, gazing at photos of Christy. The dialogue flows naturally, the emotions are heartfelt. If you haven't read more of Brian Wood, by the way, try him out. He's good.
Cedric is a person whose personal life is so messed up that he's only ever in control when he's fighting. And, to me, it's more realistic that Wood doesn't portray Cedric as someone suffering BUT noble. The guy is anguished, seriously under some emotional duress, and so when a chance surfaces in which he can reunite with Christy, Cedric does whatever it takes, and this absolutely includes breaking the law.
I only wish that more panels were given over to "Big Sister," as I find her very interesting. She's one of the few characters who help Cedric Zhang come to grips with things. But she was the first to reach out to him. And, later on, she startled me, although maybe I should've seen it coming. As for Christy, well, I was a bit surprised at the resolution, but on second thought I was cool with it and was cool with Wood veering away from the standard happy ending. For all the splashy martial arts stuff, FIGHT FOR TOMORROW is a low-key story and maybe even a familiar one. I can see why people may not have given it a chance. But, collected in trade format, the story flows smoother and is more dynamic. I think it deserves a larger readership.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply an underrated story, June 15, 2008
This review is from: Fight for Tomorrow (Paperback)
My first foray into Brian Wood's writing was through DMZ, the monthly ongoing series featuring a fictional civil war in the states. The brilliant mixture of good action and characterization, and the whole idea of America having another civil war, drew me in. In fact, I think it's one of the most fresh and creative comic series out there.
We see lots of the same creative energy here in Fight for Tomorrow, a mini-series that pretty much no one talked about. But I must say it's one not to be missed.
The story focuses around a character named Cedric Zhang, a buddhist who was raised as a fighter for underground fights where people regularly show up and bet on the fighters involved. He leads a pretty tough life, getting beat up almost every other day. But he finds strength in her girlfriend named Christy who was also in the same regime as Cedric.
Turns out Christy goes missing and Cedric has to find her, and along the way try to find himself. It's a heartfelt story of the everyman essentially and it's a very good one at that.
The writing's very creative, and it doesn't really feel like a normal run-of-the-mill story. Brian's characters feel very human and they often jump out of the page and start to live in your mind, that's due to the realistic dialogue and also the motivations of the characters. I think he's taken a very flawed character like Cedric and made us sympathise with his struggles and dilemmas, which is great. If anyone wants to know how to do great characterization in a story, I highly recommend this book.
With that said, I was surprised at the twist ending. Something in me didn't agree with how the story ended, but I don't see that as a flaw at all. Just like in real life, other people and situations in general don't always end up the way you want them to. But you accept it nonetheless. Fight for Tomorrow, like most other works from Wood, is very thought provoking in that regard and as a result feels very real and very much like a good movie or a good TV series where you come off feeling like you've just learned something important. That's why I think this book should get more rep out there; it's one of the most important comic series I've ever read.
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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Brian Wood--I still don't get it, November 3, 2010
This review is from: Fight for Tomorrow (Paperback)
Have you ever watched a dubbed film and felt like somehow an important clue to the plot was left out during the translation? This is the feeling you get reading Fight for Tomorrow. Overall, this is a better series than Northlanders, the other Brian Wood stuff I tried out, but still not really compelling. Where did this plot come from? It's like a shallow action comic posing as a moralistic story about human trafficking dressed up as a shallow action comic. It would have maybe made sense as the back story for a new kung fu action comic hero and heroine. They could travel around Southeast Asia beating up pimps and gangsters and whatnot and generally providing the type of mindless boyish entertainment release that you're looking for in action comics. But it's not going anywhere. At the end, I'm just, like, who cares? Same as the Northlanders series. I do have to say, though, that the illustration was in general better. Other questions: Why is a Chinese kid named Cedric? How did a blonde Caucasian get into a Chinese fight camp full of abducted Chinese kids? How does the heroine suddenly know kung fu (is Wood just changing around and making up the characters' backstories with each new issue?)?
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