Broken Frontier

Fantasy and reality intertwine in this book from the creators of American Born Chinese and Good As Lily...

The Eternal Smile is a special book.  That should be the end of the review really, but then how effective would it be?  Probably not very. The only way that sentence would sway you is if I were like your most trusted confidant at your local comic shop.  Six of my customers just called the Chapel Hill store to get my boss to order this book.  He hates me right about now.

Seriously, it is a one of a kind book.  I have read a few comics that were life affirming and a few that affected the way I thought about life.  I’m not talking Watchmen type books that changed the way I viewed comic books or superheroes, or books like The Nightly News that revolutionized the way a comic is written.  I am talking about books that allowed me to mature and grow just by reading them.

The Eternal Smile is that kind of book.  It weaves a web through its three stories.  One of fantasy and necessity and what they ultimately mean to the person weighing their importance.  Maybe it is just the place I am at in my life, but this book spoke volumes to me.  Coming from Gene Luan Yang, that was not surprising.  His American Born Chinese was a tour de force in shattering a reader's expectations for what a story was and how a message could be conveyed in a graphic novel.  That work was a little too overwrought for me, but it worked and still generates profound discussions for those who read it.  Derek Kirk Kim was a bit more of a surprise.  I have read Flight so I have most certainly read something by him and on my daughter’s shelf sits a copy of Good As Lily that just became all the more enticing.

The three stories here - though told in different artistic styles, voicing their characters in a different manner, and having different storytelling approaches - are united first on the most base of levels.  About halfway through each story is a twist that changes the meaning of what has come before and more importantly, what comes after.  By putting the twist firmly in the middle of the narrative, the two creators allow for the reader to feel that everything is kosher.  That there has not been any foul play by the writer.  In other words, they don’t feel like an M. Night Shyamalan film.  Certainly, those movies cause viewers to want to see them again, but it is usually because the viewer wants to see the cheat, not because the web was so intricately spun that it dazzles.  That is what the twists here do, they dazzle.

On one level, it is a shame because it limits how I can discuss each piece.  The meanings of each story are so profoundly changed that it would cheat the reader of the experience for themselves.  I hesitate to go into detail, to count the ways that the book will affect the reader.  Maybe it is because of my non spoiler nature, but possibly also because of the other way that the stories are intertwined.

There is a thematic element that runs through each of the stories.  They all have to do with the difference between the reality of life and one’s more fantastic wishes for that life.  What is powerful in each of the stories is that each of the central characters finds that what life is all about is much more simple than any grandiose desire.  What is even more impressive is that there is no overpowering religious statement here, even though one story centers around the concept of religion.  It is the opposite of preachy and more than Yang’s previous work, it is not overstated.  The lessons are there, but require the reader to skillfully dig them out and let the ideas ruminate in their minds.  It works like a koan or a Confucianism… it is merely a phrase, what you take from it is your own.

In brief, the first story “Duncan’s Kingdom” is about sword and sorcery, a riff on the Arthur legend, where an unassuming boy can become king of a powerful nation, if he can get through his quest.  The second story “Granpa Greenbax & The Eternal Smile” takes on the Uncle Scrooge archetype of old.  Its title page even mocks those classic Gold Key covers.  There are splashes in pools of gold and similiarly named twins.  The adventures in the book have to do with ways to get rich.  Finally, “Urgent Request” is about a barely noticeable girl who finds what she needs through a phishing scam.   To tell you any more is to rob you of the wonderful experience that will unfold before you.

The art for all three stories is different.  “Duncan’s Kingdom” has that kind of indie book feel.  “Granpa Greenbax” features anthropomorphic frogs and “Request” features a manga like style that is expressed through a Peanuts filter.  The layouts are just as different - from a more traditional panel grid in the middle story to an atomospheric layout in the final piece.

In the end, this book will appeal to a different audience than eighty percent of what is in your local shop.  You will be drawn to it by the reputations generated by the two talents involved or it will be recommended by a friend or, if you are very lucky, by an unassuming comic shop guy with a glint in his eye.  It is geared towards the type who likes a more literary graphic novel and its package is definitely geared to get that female consumer or fan of manga to take note.  Really, it is the kind of book that everyone should read, because it shows what this medium based around pictures with words is capable of - emotional resonance that can add meaning to your life.  As such, it is a work of art unparalleled in its field.