Oni Press 2016
Written by Adam Gladd & Michael Benson
Illustrated by Harwinder Singh
Coloured by Gonzalo Duarte
Lettered by Melanie Ujimori
Drew is left reeling in the wake of his mom's attack and may have to accept that Yonkers—under the oppressive thumb of the mysterious Russian gangster Little Stalin—is no longer safe for their family. Inspired by fear and anger, Drew decides the dangers of commanding the golem, now named Brik, are worth the justice they can bring to the streets of New York. But when Drew and Brik make a bigger impact on the neighborhood than expected, Little Stalin comes out of the shadows to respond.
Verklempt this left me! Congratulations to the boys on the writing this issue because seriously this is something I hadn’t seen coming. Poor Drew comes home to learn that his mother was accosted and Dr. Hirsch is there to talk to him. He’s been around a lot since his grandfather died and this time around he tells the story of Little Stalin. The man who pulls the strings from the shadows that people like Desya do for him. This whole interchange between them was fantastic! I mean we get a supposed origin for this Little Stalin, after all how would Dr. Hirsch know for sure? We get an angry young man with a Golem ready to take action.
I think Dr. Hirsch underestimates Drew here. He’s a young man who's angry and has ideas that he can change things. He won’t be driven from his home by anyone let alone someone who hides in the shadows. I do like that he almost lets slip about the Golem but catches himself and he sounds like a young man who doesn’t know what to do. The story lights a fire under the young man and we see how he starts to use the Golem, now named Brik, to get under the skin of this Little Stalin all the while learning and growing as a young man. The characterisation here is extraordinary as we see what Drew goes through.
Harwinder does a marvelous job on the interiors here as usual. The use of page layouts through angles, perspective and even backgrounds help tell the story wonderfully. We get all the emotion, feeling, mood and tone that needs to come across at any given moment so we can feel what the characters do. Also the way that story was told visually was outstanding I liked the idea of that match and the imagery in it.
A coming of age story set in a Shtetl where immigrants are deprived of hope until a young man comes along to provide some. That the Jewish history is so closely tied into this with Drew and Brik’s family and heritage and the melting pot that is New York City and how people identify with the areas the live in is wonderfully done here. I remember my folks talking about living like this when they were kids, yes I come from NYC Jewish family so there’s an extra connection for me here, so that it feels real and natural is a huge bonus. Okay the legend of the Golem not so real but the idea it represents is incorporated superbly.
I have to say the boys here keep surprising me with the way the story unfolds, the depth of characterisation and the layered meanings to what we see. Not to mention that huge surprise reveal at the end of this issue keeps us coming back and marveling at the level of storytelling going on here.