It has taken me a long ass time to write this review and it’s entirely the issues fault. You see this book is vastly underrated, but for me I struggle with finding the words to describe it. How many different ways are there to say “this is the best comic book dealing with relationships that I’ve ever read.” I guess that’s the way. So yeah it took a while to figure out what to say that would be worth you reading my review. Hopefully I found them, but even if I didn’t I’m serious about this book being underrated. It should be on more comic reader’s radars. The issue once again takes a play out of Mike Allred’s playbook and recaps the previous issue and also shows mini thumbnails of each page. I love this. It could just be me, but if you’re comic does this then it’s awesome.
Diving into the issue we catch up on the day-to-day grind of Sam and find Syd hanging out at his friend’s house playing video games with his daughter. There’s a cross-reference to another Two Headed Monster Comic: The Toyetic Adventures of Coco Fiasco, which was a nice throw in. After that we see Sam and Syd hanging out together and it’s comfortable. There doesn’t seem to be any romantic tension in the air, but they are hanging on to each other like two old socks. Syd calls it a night and Sam checks her email until there’s a knock at the door.
Who is it?
Is it Syd which seems like the obvious choice?
Nope.
It’s her ex-boyfriend. The big ex. The one that changed the course of her life and the one that she’s basically still trying to get over. What follows is an honest conversation between two people who haven’t spoken to each other since their break up. It’s angry and raw and shows how people who live together see things differently. If you’ve had this conversation then you’ll relate. Maybe you were on Sam’s side of the conversation or maybe you were on the other. Either way, you’re likely to have been here and that’s why it’s so damn good.
James Moore writes a phenomenal story about relationships. All types of relationships; friendships, family and sibling relationships, and in this case break up relationships. The dialogue is very believable and more importantly it stays true to Sam’s character that’s been built up in the previous three issues. Hats off to Moore, he does a great job on this issue.
The art maintains its look in this issue as well. It’s clear that Joel Jackson knows these characters and can illustrate them with ease. I was very impressed with his angels that he chose for this issue. The last page in particular was wonderful and looked cinematic. The fight dialogue between the ex’s was also wonderful as the visuals bounced back and forth between the present and the past. It was interesting to see the room move around and change. Jackson is talented at representing two timelines on the same page and while that may not translate to other stories, it’s a weapon in his arsenal that other artists don’t have.
The saying goes, “there’s nothing new under the sun” and while I can relate to this story having had similar experiences in my life; I’m sure others can as well. There really aren’t enough comic books about relationships and that’s one of the many things that make Radio Free Gahanna so good and worth the effort for you to check it out.
Score: 5/5
Writer: James Moore Artist: Joel Jackson Publisher: Two Headed Monster Comics Price: $3.00 Website