Broken Frontier

For the past year, Demo has created an incredible amount of buzz for an independent comic. This final issue shows why.

A young couple spends their last night together. That final night becomes an incredible, whimsical adventure. In the back-up story, Marie and Mike, from the debut issue of the series, return, as Cloonan and Wood switch roles to catch readers up with that pair.

Brian Wood has been somewhat hit-or-miss with this series. More often than not, he has struck gold with Demo, but some of the issues have fallen flat. This issue stands out as one of the very best issues, if not the best issue, of this wonderful, experimental series. The actual story is both entertaining and romantic, but that story holds little importance to this book. In the credits, Wood is listed as the lyricist, as opposed to the writer, and that title fits his actual role perfectly. His words are far too beautifully constructed to be labeled as prose, and are written more in the style of free-form poetry, with the occasional rhyme. Any reader will want to read Wood’s lyrics over and over again. His words are simply gorgeous.

Becky Cloonan’s art flows as beautifully as do Wood’s lyrics. Cloonan takes on the majority of the burden as far as storytelling, handling it with ease. She continues to experiment with this issue, blending photos with pencil and ink art as she has done in the past. Her almost manga-like style combines with her heavy pen strokes to suit the story’s tone perfectly. The most impressive aspect of Cloonan’s art, however, is her ability to convey emotions. She had not done so well in that area with previous installments of this series, but here she absolutely excels. Romance, wonder, and joy fill the characters’ eyes in every panel.

Wood and Cloonan switch roles for the back-up story. To any readers who missed the first issue of this series, this segment may hold little significance, but for initial readers, it is a welcome treat. Cloonan’s script features an allusion to the first issue that will undoubtedly make long-time readers smile, while Wood’s dark, heavy art is a treat in and of itself.

While Demo has always featured supernatural powers of some kind, the stories have always found their heart within the richly developed characters. From the tragic and sadly relatable story of a soldier in Iraq and his faraway wife to this magical tale of unrequited romance, this series has perfectly captured both the purity and conflict of young romance. I join all the other readers of this series in extending my heartfelt thanks to Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan for the truly original, outstanding work that is Demo.

-Eliot Johnson