Customer Reviews

Fishtown

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Inspired by the 2003 real-life murder of a Philadelphia teenager, this debut (which originally appeared online) uses a slightly disturbing puke-yellow and blue-black palette to inspect the dark side of the human animal. The story opens with a teenager being questioned by an unseen inquisitor, and it's clear that something bad has happened. The book then cuts between flashbacks and several teens being questioned about the events being flashed back to, and soon one learns that the three boys and girl being interviewed decided to kill another teen they knew.

We also learn that some of the accused had tough family lives, all were into drugs to one degree or another, and the girl was a "cutter." These details are in no way meant to explain what was essentially a thrill killing (the money that was the ostensible motive is fairly negligible), but nor to they add much of anything to our understanding of the events. As we hear the statements of the four accused and see what ostensibly happened via flashbacks, the central question becomes whose idea the murder was, and who bears moral responsibility.

Of course, ultimately, the question of the "truth" of the murder doesn't really matter, all that matters is that a boy was killed. The format of the book, the inking style, the narrative cuts, all contribute to a very discernible sense of the teens' collective alienation. Not alienation from society, but alienation from themselves. These kids are empty and unreflective, and while it might be tempting to blame society or their parents or their environment, the horror of this crime resists such simple analysis. In the end, I'm not really sure what the point of the book is, other than representing a terrible crime which serves as yet another illustration of Hannah Arendt's famous statement about the banality of evil.

This is an interesting work, somehow failing to rise above being something akin to the Faces of Death DVDs.

A blended together tale, it touches on the cycle of abuse with a dose of Primal Fear. Sadly though the book does little more than a quick tour, something like learning about lions while seeing them on safari.

I don't think we get a clear picture of what the facts in the case are, or how much this veers from them. This is possible why I can't the taste out of my mouth that on some level this is simple exploitation.

I'm new to the graphic novel genre, but am quite taken with the power Mr Colden transmits through the visuals. It's a disturbing story to be sure and that it is real makes it even more so.

This should be a movie.

I forced myself to read Fishtown because I am from the area and know of the murder in which Kevin based his book. It crippled our neighborhood community. It seems that Colden gathered all he could from newspaper articles and created the personal lives of the characters in the story from his own imagination.

In this story, we see an entire cast of unsympathetic characters, (including the boy who is murdered). It seems as if he makes an attempt to humanize the murderers as victims of bad homes, but they are still very unlikable and one dimensional. The story would have been better if the author would have been more responsible by doing a lot more research in the neighborhood that he bases his story. Or maybe he should have used a fictional name of the setting and not use likenesses of real people in his work.

It seems that some folks might pick up this book and compare what Colden did to Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood". They would be right in the sense that he is exploiting an awful tragedy for his own benefit. However, they would be wrong in the sense that this is a quality work of art or literature.

a group of teenagers kills another teenager for money... and they dont feel guilty!!
Wooow!!
i have never read/watched anything like this.... no, just kidding, i watched dozens of movies with exactly the same plot.
it is an old story - totally uninspired and comics is maybe not the right medium here.
authors who cant bring anything new should not be published. it is a waste of money and paper.