Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Young Liars #8

By Zak Edwards
October 16, 2008 - 20:16

So I have been thinking about the last issue a lot.  A lot.  Issue seven of Davis Lapham’s seriously twisted series focusing on morality, greed, gray areas of ethics and those who fall into all sorts of situations was a departure from the narrative style of the rest of the series.  While the perspective before was very much showing action on a relatively normal plane of existence, even with an unreliable narrator, but the shift became a dream sequence with many, many things going on with little to no explanation.  I thought of the issue as a dream sequence referring to the intended plot behind David Bowie’s album “Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” from which the issue gets its title.  I later thought of the issue perhaps depicting how the brain-damaged and amoral Sadie perceives reality.  But she is in a coma, so perhaps this rules out the latter (and maybe the former as well, but that’s the beauty of interpretation) but at least the series holds out enough and shocks the reader enough to keep reengaging the text even after it has been put down for a few weeks.  A word of warning, this issue alone contains plenty of offensive material, so keep it away from young, impressionable types.

A side note: I am seriously considering sending David Lapham a bill for the amount of CD’s I’ve bought as a result from reading this series.  Starting with Spoon (three albums and harassing record store clerks for more), continuing with The Fall, and ending with me downloading tracks by Silver Jews and Mission of Burma, which “Danny Duoshade” suggested this month.  This soundtrack of the series idea is a great addition to the series and I am very much enjoying it.

But this issue continued to confuse over make clear, which alienated many readers last issue according to other various reviews I encountered.  This cliffhanger ending made me want to both throw away the issue and flip it over to the beginning and read it again.  I did the middle ground and left it for a couple of days and came back to it.  So I’ve been trying to suss out what has been going on and I just as I think I have it, Lapham throws some little detail to upset everything.  The last two issues have been perfectly crafted to confuse the crap out of me and that’s why the review quote on the front rang a little too true.

Lapham gives a little more possible history for the two main protagonists Danny and Sadie.  Their hate/love/hate/ relationship continues much as it still does but some motivations and characterizations become much clearer.  Probably part of the game Lapham is playing with his readers, giving questionable information combined with just plain crazy.  So the series may have taken a dramatic shift in many ways with this new story arc, but, despite its frustrations, it’s still better than a lot out there.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12