Jen Wang can draw. There is no question about that. The artwork for "Koko Be Good" is fantastic. Wang's style is loose and frenetic, stylistically solid and beautifully colored (water color? Maybe). There is so much life and energy in her imagery that the pages of the book have a hard time containing it all. Her characters are all circles, and Wang has a great way with facial expressions.
The real question is can Jen Wang write? That same wild energy that appears in the artwork has a hard time being tamed into a compelling story. Koko's introduction into the story is so visually confusing that even when I re-read the five or so pages I realized I had no idea what was going on. But the real problem is that her characters are mostly superficial, and the closing of the story is apparent from the first few pages. There are no surprises, and the book ends exactly like I thought it would. "Typical Hollywood Ending" comes to mind.
The basic story set up starts with Jon, an aimless 20-something recent collage graduate who is planning to move to Peru to be with his 30-something girlfriend who plans to dedicate her life to helping the poor. Jon has no particular dreams or ambitions of his own, and so is just tagging along with his girlfriend. He feels that doing something is better than doing nothing, and simply wants to be with his girl. Jon had dreams once, of playing music, but the fire has left him. The girlfriend on the other hand is ambivalent, afraid that Jon is coming for the wrong reasons and not afraid to tell him so. Suddenly, into Jon's life comes Koko, an explosion of id who acts without thinking, full of strange passion and drive but with no focus at all. Koko is pure impulse, and forget the consequences. The two form a strange friendship, with Koko impressed by Jon's plan to "be good" and Jon finding himself drawn to the impish girl. Koko questions her own life, and sets out on a plan to "be good" without really knowing how, but goes about it in her own way.
Maybe it is my age, but I didn't find either Jon or Koko's journey to be particularly interesting. It is the typical shallow soul-searching that affects most collage graduates; that sort of "what do I do now?" malaise when you realize that your childhood goals have been accomplished, and that soon you will have to look at the world from a more adult perspective. Jon is wishy-washy and directionless. Koko is wild and directionless. Time to grow up, just like we all do. Yawn.
To be honest, I thought that "Koko Be Good" had the wrong main character. Threaded loosely through Jon and Koko's tale is that of a young boy named Faron Lau, who was infinitely more interesting than either Koko or Jon. Faron is Koko's friend and partner in crime, a young boy who was fat and teased as a kid, and so pushed himself to grow up strong and dangerous. However, Faron's secret is that he loves Broadway musicals, and his most treasured possession is a poster from the musical
Wicked. Faron was awesome. Faron was interesting. The short seven-page interlude called "The Ballad of Faron Lau" was the best part of the book.
I look forward to more by Jen Wang. Her artwork is truly tremendous, and if you don't demand too much story-wise from your comics, or if you are young enough to empathize and be moved by the characters, then <em>Koko Be Good</em> might just blow you away. Me, I hope Wang teams up with a writer to give focus to her energy. Maybe Wang is a little too much Koko herself, and needs to find a Jon to bring her down to earth a little.
