Talk about some character progression? Ok, I will. While Sundowners has so far vacillated between intriguing and frustrating on almost an issue-by-issue basis, it definitely can’t be faulted for a lack of character development. Between the premiere and the end of this first arc, many of the characters have gone through significant growth that often takes other comics years to accomplish.

I’ve been having more and more conversations recently about comics with people who don’t read comics. What strikes me about these conversations isn’t what the other person typically says about comics (they’re for children, they’re sexists, they’re not as literary as other mediums), but my response to these people. Often, I’ll point to certain comics I have in my literary holster, and make some argument about how they function as high art (See me talking about Jimmy Corrigan and page layout, Ant Colony and existentialism, All-Star Superman and myth, etc.).

I hope someday I’m smart enough to love Unwritten: Apocalypse. Perhaps it’ll happen if I ever get around to reading all the literary texts and theory that it alludes to, as well as the bulk of the preceding main comic, which has been on my to-read list since finishing volume two and recognizing that someday I’d want to have the series in beautiful leather-bound hardcovers ala Ron Burgundy, and “Eww, do I hate these cheaply made trades.”

Let me just out myself first. I really like Eric Stephenson. When Nowhere Men was all that anyone seemed to talk about (anyone who reads comics as often as I do, at least), I said “Nu-uh, ain’t gonna fall for the hype” and reread Y: The Last Man for the fifth time instead.