Publisher: Boom
Writer: J.G. Jones and Mark Waid
Artist: J.G. Jones
Release date: OUT NOW
Price: $3.99

 

Strange Fruit #1 is set in the town of Chatterlee in 1927, as the Mississippi River threatens to wash the town away, the local chapter of Klu Klux Klan has its own ideas as to who should be doing the work to shore up the levees and, if anyone objects, they can easily be persuaded at the end of a shotgun or a noose and a tree. You can almost hear Nina Simone singing ‘Strange Fruit’, ‘hanging from the trees’ with every turn of the page of Strange Fruit #1.

Strange Fruit #1 is a beautifully painted, hard hitting representation of an era we fervently hope is now nothing but a shameful footnote in the history of North America. Strange Fruit #1 contains strong themes and language that is now unacceptable; however, don’t let that put you off.

Sweetening the pill for those readers who still want a comic book to be, well, a comic book, Strange Fruit #1 features the arrival of a visitor from another planet in the time honoured tradition of a certain Kryptonian; although this is no primary coloured fighter for truth, justice and the correct American way. Exactly who and what this visitor is and how he will affect the lives of the inhabitants of Chatterlee remains to be seen.

Strange Fruit #1 should be mandatory reading for everyone who still thinks comic books are the poor relation to novels when it comes to expressing important themes and ideas and focusing the spotlight on social and political evils. And in the hands of. J.G. Jones (52, Wanted, Y: The Last Man) and Mark Waid (Irredeemable, Superman: Birthright, Kingdom Come), Strange Fruit #1 one gets the best of the best where creativity and a complete understanding of the medium is concerned.

The only downside here is Strange Fruit #1 is a limited four-issue series, but one that could just be the most important and influential four issues of any comic book so far this millennium. Second series please Boom. You, know, ASAP!!!

Reviewer: Gary Orchard
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker