“MAYDAY” #1 begins with a disillusioned, coke addicted, Hollywood screenwriter witnessing a cult-related murder at the high profile “Viper Room” on Sunset (famed location of River Phoenix’s final moments). Like Pires last series “POP”, “MAYDAY” is a critical dissection of bloated, fucked-out, culture machine that holds power through sedation, and is a structurally fragile as it is monolithic. This is everything you signed up for when you pick up a book from Curt Pires, and more.
WRITTEN BY: Curt Pires
ART BY: Chris Peterson
PUBLISHER: Black Mask Studios
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: March 25, 2015
Reviewed By Eric Switzer
The “villain” of “MAYDAY” is Benicio Del Cocaine, a retired actor turned cult leader who speaks in the metaphysical and has his very secret laboratory filled his human holding chambers. I refer to Benicio as the “villain” because the true “enemy” of the book is superficial soul-crushing mentalities of those involved in and surrounded by the film industry, of which Benicio is a symptom. In this Pires takes a different, slightly more focused target than his previous series, “POP”, which implicated both the music industry and the consumer, epitomizing the self harm being inflicted by a misguided generation.
In “MAYDAY”, Pires targets a culture that is not nearly as far-reaching but one that is so horrifically insulated and grandiose that it is has become its own little world within our own, with its own set of mores and values. The very specific culture that Pires depicts in “MAYDAY” infects more than 100,000 people living and working in Hollywood while the rest of the country fantasizes about being part of it.’
As a non-native Los Angelian, I am keenly aware of this circle-jerk culture illustrated in “MAYDAY”, one that values vanity of character, reputation over action, and quite simply, bullshit over substance. If and when Benicio Del Cocaine carries out his master plan, we may all be cheering for him to dismantle this empty, self congratulating machine.
Benicio Del Cocaine and Terrance Gattica, the protagonist, represent two opposite responses to the same conclusion: neither belong in this world of flashing lights anymore, but where one seeks to act against it, the other seeks to cease existing altogether. Benicio explains that the lie is no longer beautiful to him and that he now seeks the truth while Terrance barricades himself The Chateau Marmont drinking, fucking, and rejecting the beautiful lie as well. They are two sides to the same coin.
I enjoyed “POP” quite a bit, and I encourage you to pick it up if you haven’t yet, but I think “MAYDAY” is going to mean a lot more to me because it literally hits so close to home, and in a town of 3.8 million, I bet there’s a lot of you that are going to feel the same way.
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Eric Switzer is an aspiring filmmaker and screenplay writer living in Los Angeles. His work tends to focus on the lighter side of entropy, dystopic futures, and man’s innate struggle with his own mortality. He can be found on twitter @epicswitzer or reached via email at ericswitzerfilm@gmail.com.