At the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog Ross Johnson tagged
twelve top graphic novels for a new political reality, including:
Citizen Jack, by Sam Humphries and Tommy Patterson
Dancing between the sacred and the profane, political commentary is probably best served with a smirk. Which is a polite way of suggesting that Sam Humphries and Tommy Patterson take a bulldozer to the idea of modern political celebrity. Less concerned with issues, Sam and Tommy are (largely) equal-opportunity offenders with the story of snowblower salesman Jack Northworthy, an everyday (in the worst possible way) Joe who winds up as the nation’s leading candidate for the American presidency via a deal with a particularly vile demon named Marlinspike.
From the reader’s perspective, Jack’s pretty awful: slobbish, lazy, bigoted, and willfully ignorant. But to the voters? He’s a relatable straight-shooter who’s going to change the world with his plain talk and common sense, an anti-establishment type who’s poised to bring some real change. Readers are invited to draw any inferences about current events that they’d like, but the book’s less interested in particular polices or ideologies than it is in gleefully and profanely tearing down the entire weird process of modern American democracy.
Read about
another entry on the list.
--Marshal Zeringue
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