Return of a Classic: Demo Vol. 2

So I haven't been blogging as much, as I've been forced into a laziness from all the recent snow, but now that I have some time to kill (because I'm in Spain, which I'll get to in later posts) I've got to geek out a little about something. Those of you who know about me and my favorite comics know that I loved an independently published run of a comic called, Demo. The series came out in 2003-2004 and was written by Brian Wood (Channel Zero, The Couriers, Norhtlanders) with art by Becky Cloonan (Channel Zero, American Virgin, East Coast Rising). The first issue was given to me by a friend, Gabe, who I credit for putting me onto comics "for real". I say for real in that I started following comics primarily for the story told with the art as a bonus. He put me onto the idea of following writers as opposed to artists (not that I still won't pick up anything drawn by Jim Lee).

But I digress. Demo was a series of 12 stand-alone comics, each with their own independent stories. Each issue somehow dealt (either overtly or more subtly) with being young and having some kind of super power. As each story differed in tone and subject matter, so did Cloonan's art. Demo Vol. 1 still has what may be one of my favorite single comics ever.

When I heard rumors that Vertigo had purchased the rights from AiT/Planet Lar, I was excited that they might publish a second volume after they reissued volume 1. Mid-2009 I heard those exact rumors and had asked my comic store proprietor, Steve, about it. He had said he had heard the same rumors but nothing concrete but would let me know as soon as he did. I guess we both forgot about it, because two weeks ago, while I was perusing the stacks, I was staring at issue 1 of Demo Vol. 2.


After reading, I felt that the strongest part of the comic was the art. Becky Cloonan has been keeping busy with work both for Vertigo and Tokyopop's American branch, and it shows with her work on this issue. While the story telling is strong and somewhat fantastical in a way that I enjoy, I felt that the overall story was relatively contrived and predictable. I thoroughly enjoyed Brian Wood's work on DMZ but feel that maybe some of Demo's original success may be due to some of the angst he had when starting out. Hopefully he can still keep the edge that was present in so much of his work in the first volume. Overall I give the issue a solid B, and look forward to the rest of the series.