“Material” #1 is ambitious, it is not a book with a message, it IS a message. In this first issue alone Ales Kot explores a great many themes and social complexities that each could sustain their own graphic meditation (which feels more fitting a description than “comic book” for something as highbrow as “Material”) but together, this is a book about desperation, about fear and control, about communication and when it stops. “Material” inspires dialogue. As a critic my piece is to say “know what you’re getting into”. As an emotionally engaged millennial I urge you to allow “Material” to give you pause, and spread it around.
WRITTEN BY: Ales Kot
ART BY: Will Tempest
PUBLISHER: Image
PRICE:$3.50
RELEASE: May 27, 2015
By way of story, “Material” #1 sets up 4 plot lines: a disillusioned professor longing for a time before “hyper-capitalism” and before we became one with our machines is contacted through email by someone claiming to be the first A.I., a drug addicted actress is recruited by a powerful director to make a atypical and mysterious kind of film, a black youth protesting police brutality in Chicago is arrested and, well, brutalized, and a middle-eastern man is having trouble assimilating after being released from Guantanamo Bay where he was held prisoner and tortured.
What connects these stories? They are all distinctly representing current social issues. They are all focused on an individual, a microcosm character that represents a group. They are not objective. Kot is delivering a pretty pointed perspective on these issues. Its hard to imagine where things are going at this point, but it is so uncommon for a comic book to say something that I have to encourage you all to be a part of this. Thankfully, Kot writes incredibly natural dialogue. Mark Waid, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Brian K. Vaughn, Scott Snyder, Ray Fawkes; the master write memorable character and remarkable stories that use universal themes to create emotional attachment to the stories. Kot is using the medium to speak directly to his audience. There are footnotes on almost every page offering connections to theorists and related essays and it seems evident you could spend a lifetime diving into conflicts and contradiction Kot is pointing at.
Fiona Duncan’s essay at the end really opens up one particular thread of this issue and makes it all a lot easier to digest, something I think new readers of Kot’s work will be turned off by; there is a significant intellectual barrier to entry. Kot is not writing for the lowest common denominator by any stretch, and the dialogue will be lost on a group of readers who or frustrated by their lack of understanding and feel that “Material” is deliberately over-academic. If you felt this way about the first issue, please stay with it. You don’t need to understand necessarily every reference to Thoreau or have seen the films of Godard and David Lynch to catch his drift. I say let it wash over you. Take in what you can and then ask someone to read it and talk with you about it. It will be good for you, I promise.