A ‘born-with-a-rifle-in-his-hand farm boy’ goes to war, but his heart is just not in it — much to the chagrin of his wife who just gave birth and was living on the Army’s money.

Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan
“Demo”
AiT/Planet Lar
$19.95, 288 pages

“Hey, you ever get this weird feeling that you’re different somehow?” Those are the first words spoken by a character in “Demo,” the independent comic by writer Brian Wood and artist Becky Cloonan.

The trade paperback, which collects all 12 issues of the AiT/Planet Lar comic, is composed of 12 separate, yet connected stories.

And the theme is the same throughout: focusing on the different, those who operate outside the mainstream, trying to find out where their lives fit in the grand scheme.

But that’s the only thing that stays the same throughout the series. Different characters are featured in different issues, and the tone changes with them, from soft and surreal to brooding empathy.

Wood’s words and Cloonan’s pen give life to characters the reader wants to sympathize with, even if their intentions aren’t always the best.

In “What You Wish For,” the reader follows a loner boy who hides his feelings. When a neighbor kills his dog, he gets angry and commands the zombie dog to kill the neighbor.

And then: “I could feel it, the fear and hurt turning to rage. I just let it all go.”

Cloonan’s art in the next issue, “One Shot, Don’t Miss,” pits black against white in a story about war in Iraq. In it, a “born-with-a-rifle-in-his-hand farm boy” goes to war, but his heart is just not in it — much to the chagrin of his wife who just gave birth and was living on the Army’s money.

Cloonan uses the contrast of black against white to set up Wood’s script and the growth that the soldier, John, goes through.

Then there’s “Mixtape,” the best of all the issues in the series. Faced at a crossroads in life, a woman takes her life, leaving a mix tape for her boyfriend, Nick, to play.

Nick plays it and converses with the dead woman, Jess, as the two work out the existential angst that had enveloped their relationship.

“Jess, I don’t know what you want from me,” Nick says.

“I know. That’s always been a problem, hasn’t it?”

Cloonan’s loose art in the issue adds to the tone as Nick struggles to find his way in the world, one in which he has been abandoned. And yet Nick’s struggle with abandonment and love are what lead him to a breakthrough.

Wood’s words and Cloonan’s art form something more than the individual parts would be if left on their own. Instead, the reader finds an interesting mixture of heart and sadness, anger and happiness, community and individualism.

“Demo” is not something that can be wrapped up in a neat little bow and opened by readers easily. Readers will need to pull at the bow little by little, exposing themselves to the brightest and the darkest of humanity.

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