Have you ever wanted to go back and change something? Bryan Lee O’Malley’s first graphic novel since Scott Pilgrim is moving, beautiful, gorgeously illustrated and will completely envelop you.
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Rating: 10/10
The massive pop-culture explosion of Scott Pilgrim put Canadian writer and artist Bryan Lee O’Malley on that map people seem to arrive on when they have some degree of success. Coupled with the 2010 film adaptation, the series served as O’Malley’s primary output from 2004 through 2010. Undoubtedly, there’s some parallels that can be drawn with his latest graphic novel, Seconds, a book that is partly about having the courage to put something highly personal out into the world, and perhaps trusting in those who have it in their best interest to look out for us.
As the title implies, it’s about second chances, but also knowing when it’s time to put the past to rest. For a creator with such a monolithic series of works behind him, O’Malley is wearing his heart on his sleeve with his latest work. Drawing on the manga-influenced style that O’Malley has been associated with since his earliest work, complete with chibi characters and exaggerated expressions, Seconds is also something entirely different because it tells a story not typically reserved for graphic novels. It follows the redheaded Katie Clay, a chef at a successful and hip titular restaurant, but desperately wanting to open a second kitchen of her own.
The argumentative and spontaneous Katie’s rash decisions lead to a minor catastrophe, but shortly after she discovers something magical in her loft apartment. A small box containing a notebook, a mushroom and an “immaculately printed card” instructs her to write down her mistakes, ingest the ‘shroom and when she awakens all will be well. This works, of course, but Katie’s refusal to let it end with just one mushroom complicates her life further and angers the house spirit.
The mix of magical fantasy and slice-of-life reality is something that will be familiar to O’Malley fans, having been used to his unique use of video game motifs throughout Scott Pilgrim. Similarly, he plays again here with the conventions of the form, with Katie actively aware of the narrative throughout the book. There are times that she comments on a piece of narration, and at other times she will outright contradict it, or simply start arguing with it. Rather than taking readers out of the moment, it acts to make the structure more organic. Katie is not simply a part of the story, but a creator of her own tale as well (or at the very least she is trying to be). Upon repeat readings, it becomes even more evident that Katie herself would have it no other way.
O’Malley’s art is simply divine. While it may recall the simplicity of straightforward manga characters, it’s a testament to his mastery of the craft that so much emotion can be invested in these mere “cartoons”. O’Malley has a clear idea of who each of these people are by the way they dress, move, speak or react to a given situation. Key turning points are made completely without dialogue, a welcome relief in a market flooded with over-written books. At other times, O’Malley completely changes perspective on us and literally flips the ‘camera’ around to shoot a familiar scene from a different angle (as illustrated by the kitchen example below). Similarly, the colour palette can flip between warm and filled with subtlety, to a simpler two or three toned set of panels that speak just as loudly.
Bryan Lee O’Malley changes our perspective on what a comic could and should be.
Like Jeff Lemire’s most personal work, including Essex County and The Underwater Welder, O’Malley’s Seconds manages to wholly create a sense of a distinctive time and place. One gets the impression that O’Malley hasn’t created the world so much as lived there, and has simply transcribed what he saw during his stay. It also makes the fantasy elements a natural extension of the tale, rather than simply being the central conceit. Yet the real magic is in creating a 300+ page tome that mysteriously gets read in a single sitting.
Bottom Line: Magical realism is a genre that Bryan Lee O’Malley could rightly plant his flag in after Scott Pilgrim and Seconds, for he has shown the world just how it should be done. Beautiful, emotional and at times deeply personal, it is difficult to walk away from this outstanding graphic novel and not want another helping. Easily one of the best graphic novels released this year, and possibly one of the most magical of the last decade.
