Wednesday 17 March 2010

Kissed by a bee

I was planning to hold off from reviewing Mezolith until it was actually released, but I got so fed up of waiting for Amazon to send my copy that I went back and read it in weekly comic strip form. And that's got me all geed up now, so here it is.

There's no need for a long review here. Others have written about Mezolith eloquently and perceptively, including Richard Bruton on the Forbidden Planet blog here (where you can also see a few pages) and a great analysis on The Book Zone (For Boys) here. There's not much more I can add to what those gentlemen have written except to say that Mezolith is a brilliantly original story: a loving biography of the human race told at the personal level through one boy's eyes. And it captures the whole timeless marvel of humanity, in that Poika is simultaneously the latest of many generations of his people, and at the same time a completely unique individual who is forming his own relationship with the universe, as we see in his charming connection with the bee that seems to become his particular totem, guide and rival.

But that's just detail. The point I wanted to make is that Mezolith is the most important British graphic novel of the last twenty years. A big claim? Look, I'm a huge fan of Watchmen, for example, but I know it's only ever going to be understood by comics fans; 99% of readers would be left baffled. But Mezolith, on the other hand - that's a timeless, engaging and yet unsentimental tale that anyone can read and appreciate. A French edition is already lined up for June this year, and that's only the beginning. It's not something to put alongside Tintin, it's something to put alongside Dickens or Steinbeck. Ben Haggarty and Adam Brockbank have created an honest-to-mankind masterpiece which you really should buy as a gift for any friend who appreciates the transformative power of great literature. No kidding. Button there at the right, Amazon will do the rest.

12 comments:

  1. Couldn't agree with you more on this assessment Dave, when I first encountered Mezolith a year or so ago I was just totally blown away. Absolutely compelling work and so immediate that it just pulls you into the story which it has to be said is very dark and challenging at times, to the extent that I was really impressed that David Fickling had had the cojones to publish the story in the DFC.

    If it doesn't end up on every comicologist's list of top twenty graphic novels of 2010, I for one will be putting on my black fedora and red scarf and meting out vengeance on the perpetrators of such an injustice.

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  2. I feel it should score a lot higher than the top 20 for this year, Peter! Now, if you'd said the top 20 of all time...

    It certainly didn't fit in with the much younger stuff in the comic. But I just see that as an accident of its early days. The Beatles appeared on Opportunity Knocks but that didn't define them for the rest of their careers. Mezolith will find a huge worldwide audience who will never even be aware that its first volume (of many, hopefully) was once serialized in a short-lived British weekly.

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  3. OK Dave top twenty of all time, actually the reason I made it 2010 was that I was excusing previous list compilers from omitting it from their lists.

    And the reason I wasn't going to nominate if for number 1 spot was just in case something miraculously slips under the net for this year.

    You never know ...

    But other than that it is just an amazing work of art - truly breathtaking.

    And it would definitely be in my all time top twenty.

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  4. If something else of Mezolith's calibre comes along later this year, then that really will make 2010 a "comet vintage" - I mean the way wine connoisseurs use the term, not green magic comets :-)

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  5. Well now then if the sleeping giant (aka Random House) could get Mirabilis out for Christmas I think we'd be well on the way to seeing the skies lit up.

    Still loving my Lulu copy...

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  6. It's not going to happen, I'm afraid, Peter. But I will make sure to order you up one of the secure-link Lulu copies of the whole of Book One in exchange for a hot-off-the-presses copy of Cloud 109 when it appears. Do we have a deal?

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  7. We do indeed David, I'm truly captivated by Mirabilis,it touches a lot of buttons for me in ways different to Mezolith and in fact any other graphic novel that I have yet encountered. I think what you and Leo and Nikos have created with the story of young Jack Ember and Estelle not to mention the ironically titled "Kind Gentleman" is enchanting, stimulating and compelling - a really fabulous piece of work.

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  8. I remember seeing the first episode of Mezolith in the DFC. It looked like something from a whole other universe in comparison with most of the other comics, and grabbed me from the very first page. I am glad to learn I can get the whole comic in one volume (when it is finally released, that is). I will save it a place of honour on the shelf beside Mirabilis. :)

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  9. Actually, Sandy, I was going to send you my Amazon copy because Ben has very kindly said he's going to let me have one of his advance copies. (He said that *after* I did the review btw - it wasn't bribery!)

    I think you will enjoy it. Everybody talks about it as being "for older kids" or "for teens" but really it's one of those breakout stories, like Lord of the Rings or a Pixar movie, that transcend age demographics and all that marketing twaddle :)

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  10. I don't see the necessity for dissing Tintin. Hergé has nothing to envy from Dickens and Steinbeck.

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  11. I'm not dissing Tintin; I'm not dissing Watchmen either, as the post makes perfectly clear. Both are brilliant, and personal favourites of mine. But they will not reach 90% of the reading public. The point is that Mezolith transcends the label of "comics" and will be relatable to the wider audience in a way that those other works are not. That is why Mezolith deserves to be seen in a wholly different light.

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