Broken Frontier

I sat on reading Fiction Clemens #2-3 for a long, long time, before sucking in a deep breath and taking the plunge.  Issue #1 was simply that good, and knowing only two issues remained of this unbelievably awesome mini, I postponed, as long as I could, the inevitable - the end.  I figured creators Josh Wagner and Joiton would have to screw up something unheard of to make the middle and last acts of this sci-fi/western/philosophical adventure a bust, in even the smallest of ways, and so I withheld and grew more and more fervent in my love of the first chapter and my desire to see it all come together in a blaze of conclusion-stuff.  And then, at last, it was time to just do it, and write about it, and so I did.

And it sucked.  No, just kidding (and for those who hated it and we’re looking for somebody or anybody at all to share in on the online hate, nice try, come again, and good freakin’ luck):  Fiction Clemens #2 and 3 are perhaps the most thought-provoking, fine-tuned, and perfectly wrought concluding chapters to any serialized story I have ever read.  When last we left our stalwart heroes, they were on the run from Tyberius Kitchens, the son of the wealthiest toothpick tycoon in all the land.  Now pursued by bounty-hunters of all shapes and sizes (well, okay, with breasts or without), the duo look to reclaim what's left of their lives and lie low.  But a man known as The Clockmaker has plans for them, and plans that no one can even guess at....

Issue #2 drops readers right into the thick of it, subplots and backstories and action, action, action abounding.  Writer Josh Wagner’s narrative grows playful, more so than in the first issue, veering off into nearly every direction imaginable, and this trend remains throughout the third book as well.  While ish #1 held the unenviable task of introducing us all to a bizarre hybrid world that was more a genre all its own than any combination of those already-established (which it managed magnificently, by the way), the second and third issues face the even more insurmountable task of pulling in and weaving together more plot threads than seem humanly possible to cram within two issues, even if they are 52 pages a-piece.

Be that as it may, Wagner does this, and with all the unhurried naiveté that made the first book such a rousing success.  As though he had no idea he was breaking any odd convention or simply couldn’t be bothered to care, the story of Fiction Clemens is told in a manner that would have any editor burning the book’s concept-pitch or outline in fury, and yet, because we still do have folks that create whole stories without any managerial machinations whatsoever (and may it be this way forever amen), we get treated to a faultlessly woven cat’s-cradle plot and a world that is indefinable outside of itself.

The saving grace, and perhaps greatest charm of Fic, is that for all its unique oddity it remains a largely subdued beast, a series of low key talking-heads sequences.  Nearly all the information about the characters and their quests, their origins and their roles to play in the central adventure is relayed through conversation, usually casual such, just this person and that person shooting the shinola at a table or under the shade of an outdoor awning.  Wagner wields a strong compass for dialogue that moves itself around whatever the issue at hand is, and yet somehow cuts clear to the center by its end, or rather as a whole.  In the same way Brian Azzarello weaves epic character arcs and plots into devotedly ambiguous speech, so too does Wagner work a similar magic with Fic, though toss in greater whimsy and a massively-heightened imagination.  Think if Azzarello wrote a Disney animated feature and you’d be in the ballpark.

Artist diva Joiton (well, he should be a diva, with pages that look like his!) produces every page of both giant-sized beauties, and alongside colorists Veronica Gandini and Nicolas Pena, the results are pure eye-candy through and through.  Astonishing vistas, truly unique character designs (and dozens upon dozens of characters to boot), outrageous layouts, and somehow Joiton packs all this into a very text-heavy and multi-panel-riddled comic.  Most pages have a higher word count than a page of an average mass market paperback novel, but never are Joiton’s visuals occluded, which is a major prop to both him and letterer “(Sergio)” (parenthesis included - the story isn’t the only odd thing about this comic!).  Candyland meets Sam Kieth meets Euro-art in the wild west: that’s Joiton in a nutshell, folks.

Having now completed the entire saga of Fiction Clemens (or at least the first saga…hint, hint…), I can say that this book feels like a culmination, a convergence of more than just its own plot points, but also a sudden assembly of everything that both Wagner and Joiton were struggling to achieve as creators until this comic saw the light of day.  What Invisibles was to Grant Morrison, Fiction Clemens will likely one day be seen as to Wagner: his every theme and gut-knowledge instinct rolled into one precision fiction machine.  What The Maxx did for Sam Kieth, artistically, perhaps Joiton will find Fiction to be a similar breakthrough in his own style and MO.

This is the creamiest cream of the crop that has, by the very laws of nature, risen to the top, and will be in comic stores everywhere starting in May.  Look for it and if you don’t see it, demand it, because you’re life is a lesser one without it.

###

Be sure to check out the book’s official website: www.fictionclemens.org and Myspace page: www.myspace.com/fictionclemens, and last but not least its page on Ape Entertainment’s site: http://www.ape-entertainment.com/projects.htm#fictionclemens