Where the Body Was [Comic Review]
Ed Brubaker’s and Sean Phillips’ latest collaboration, Where the Body Was, propels the team to even greater heights in my personal estimation, surprising me with its narrative and conceit to overcome my already lofty expectations. Brubaker has said this book is based on events that happened when he was a teen in Southern California. Now I’m curious what other real, wild stories he must have.
From Brubaker:
“This is a story I’ve been trying to find a way to tell for half my life. Inspired by a bunch of wild things that happened when I was a teenager in Southern California—from small time crimes to a murder plot—this book is kind of a diorama of a crime scene, with all the action confined to one small neighborhood… And it even comes with a map. I can’t wait for our readers to get their hands on this one, just in time for the Holidays.”
Image Comics
The book opens with a map of a suburban neighborhood and portraits of the cast, setting the scene for where this will take place and where these characters live. We immediately know that this is going to be a drama in a very small world.
The body in the title is the least interesting part of the book. While the book is a mystery story, it’s more about how a series of actions and events upsets the mundanity of the characters’ lives, sending them in new trajectories as conflicts boil over. These relationships are the stars of the book. It’s a human drama.
The story unfolds through multiple points of view. Sometimes we move to the future and see characters talk directly to us in what looks like an interview about the past events. In this way, the style of the book reminds me of a true crime podcast, and it makes for an interesting form. I really love how new bits of information come from different characters’ perspectives and change the color of what’s going on, putting you in the characters’ heads. The device doesn’t work like in Kurosawa’s Rashomon, with completely subjective and unreliable narrative points of view. Instead, Brubaker puts together the story through multiple characters who all have gaps in their observation and experiences of the events.
Sean Phillips’ art is great as always; here it’s hard lined, shadow tinged, realistic, and expressive. Jacob Phillips’ colors are also wonderful. I love the loose but very emotive style in the colors. These artists bring the book to life in a way that makes it hard to imagine anyone else doing it.
As a team, Brubaker and Phillips have put together what would be an exceptionally written, tightly edited, beautifully shot crime melodrama. I’m so thankful of how prolific these guys are, because they knock it out of the park every time.
Where the Body Was comes out in hardcover on December 13, 2023.
