Demo #8: Mixtape
I think I’ll start from the bottom. Demo #8: Mixtape. I would really like to consider this fantasy, since unlike everything else in the series, the power doesn’t work through a person. Not in the usual way, since it operates through an inanimate object. In this case a mixed tape. To further separate this from the rest of Demo, the reader is pretty much out of the loop as on how the power works. Nothing is really explained, but I have some Theories™. This is one of the strengths of this issue actually, as the reader has to put in some thoughts of its own.
It’s also very ambiguous if it features powers or not, in that you could interpret everything as the main character makes everything up in his head. But in that case, why did he do what he did?
What I liked about it was that it was rather slow in pace. That and the sparse dialogue make it seem like a companion-piece to issue 2 and 6. They also have that dreamlike quality in common, even though some are more nightmare than pleasant.
Something that bothered me at times was the halftone—halftones can be really really beautiful, but if you make the dots too much apart it’s not pretty.
The idea of extras in single issues and not the trade seems to me pretty obvious. Wonder why they don’t do that more often? A collected trade paperback is cheaper and isn’t as dependent on the sales as the initial run.
(Read more: Brian Wood | Becky Cloonan | AiT/PlanetLar)
