Holler #1

I have followed Jeremy Massie across a number of different works and genres. I dug his fun superhero book Amazing Age, the horror riff Blood-Drenched Creature Double Feature, and the more mundane, solo-authored book All My Ghosts, but I feel that Holler is his best to date. As a guy who teaches in Appalachia, I was intrigued to see this period piece, about an adolescent who gets into grunge music and forms a band in the 1990s.

It has a lot of pluses going for it. The characters, settings, and scenes are all well designed and staged. The storytelling is very clear, and even though there are moments of rock-out bombastic mayhem, there are a good many more quiet moments of well orchestrated personal drama. Even though I grew up in a much different context, this sweet, poignant set of accounts gave me a lot to relate to. I feel that it offers many experiences that transcend time and are relatable even today. For instance, the day when his church group discussed a band he was into:

Awkward...

The true-to-life experiences are communicated in clear fashion in ways that pack an emotional punch. I admired the way facial expressions, layouts, and pacing create many dramatic effects. From the visuals, I found it very easy to relate to these characters and share in their joys and pains. Certainly, it helps that I am roughly the same age as Massie, so I was familiar with a lot of the music and pop culture references, but but I also feel that these stories would resonate with younger readers. There is a universality to this tale of people who feel like outsiders in their own community.

Holler is published by Massie Makes Comics, and there is more info about it here (you can buy it there, too, for $0.99 - what a deal!). A print version will be available soon from It's Alive!.