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206th out of 1,504 books
—
3,029 voters
Local
by
Brian Wood (Goodreads Author),
Ryan Kelly
From Brian Wood (Demo, DMZ, Northlanders) and Ryan Kelly (Lucifer, American Virgin) comes Local, a collection of twelve interconnected short stories. Crossing genres as it crosses the country, Local examines Megan McKeenan, a young woman who sets off from Portland, OR with nothing but a backpack and a bad case of wanderlust. Each emotional vignette is a self-contained stor...more
Hardcover, 376 pages
Published
September 30th 2008
by Oni Press
(first published September 17th 2008)
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Brian Wood’s Local is twelve years in the life of a girl named Megan. Each chapter (issue) takes place in a new location a year after the last chapter took place. It’s similar to Demo, though I think Local is better written. Wood is pretty adept at portraying human beings in a realistic way, looking at personality, experience, history and environment. Ryan Kelly’s art is nice and fits the story well. The fascinating thing about this series is how much work these guys went to in getting the visua...more
A beautiful, oversize collection of the 12-issue comics series by writer Brian Wood and artist Ryan Kelly. The conceit behind "Local" is that each issue represents a year (from roughly 2004 to 2006) and each highlights a different North American city. It also becomes -- almost accidentally, it seems -- the story of Megan, who slowly grows from a teenage runaway into an adult. We see how she changes with every place and watch her interact with (or just as often, avoid interacting with) new people...more
I am fast becoming a huge fan of Brian Wood's. Like Demo, this book is about fringe characters, those who are rootless and alienated. The main character Megan is herself rootless, a reluctant travelor who can't put down roots. It is fitting then that she is our guide to perscription drug addicts, brothers who lose it and nearly destroy their famillies, and even her own family torn apart not just by the tragic death of their mother, but of the horrible house where they grew up. Her brother is so...more
Tired of the limited offerings of the comics medium, in an industry seemingly dominated by super-powered folk in colorful tight-fitting spandex? Never fear. Brian Wood – of Vertigo’s DMZ fame – and artist Ryan Kelly’s twelve-issue underdog story is here to remind you of the capacity this medium has to produce amazing narratives that deftly and stunningly wed prose with visual images.
The main storyline of Local is ambiguous at first, as these twelve self-contained stories seem at first loosely --...more
The main storyline of Local is ambiguous at first, as these twelve self-contained stories seem at first loosely --...more
Hmm, how do I review this book? I have this trouble reading graphic novels these days, I read them much too quickly- this only took me maybe 3 or 4 hours to read, and a lot of impact is lost with something I think when I just brush right through them. I think if I was waiting the years it took for this to be finished, waiting for each issue to come out, I would have enjoyed it more and it would have had more of an emotional pull with me.
Storywise, it was sort of a mixed bag. Some of the situatio...more
Storywise, it was sort of a mixed bag. Some of the situatio...more
While visiting my friend Caroline, I took the opportunity to read some non-superhero comics that I wouldn't normally pick up. I've always said I'm not a comics fan, per se--I'm a fan of the Marvel Universe. I enjoy reading comics, but I view most non-Marvel comics the same way I view novels: I'll read them if the story strikes my fancy, but the fact that they're in the comic format isn't enough by itself to get me to read them. But the concept of Brian Wood's Local, as discussed in a few old iFa...more
ryan kelly's style is sick; clothing, folds, scenery, settings, inking is drawn real nice; really liked local's 12 stories & how it follows Demo's 12 story format; what makes Brian wood's stories really fun to read is he talks about things ppl go/went thru including all those effed up childhood memories & angst ridden teenage, rebellious yrs that once we read, we can all relate to; like his commentary said in the back of book, he prefers to write about real life & flawed characters,...more
I like the concept -- twelve years in the life of one woman, Megan McKeenan, told through twelve vignettes, each in a different location, some telling her story directly and others in which she is entirely peripheral. And I like the execution. Wood and Kelly make a good team. Having read the compiled book, rather than the twelve installments independently, I can appreciate how reading them one at a time would slow down the story and give it greater space. (Though I'm grateful I didn't have to re...more
This book is very nicely done, some great art, and purely in black and white. Only problem with this book is that is weights about as much as the 7th Harry Potter book, and is taller so it doesn't make for the easiest book to carry around.
This book is broken into twelve chapters and each one takes place in a different city, but the main character Megan is central to about 10 of the 12 and is in the other 2 in some way. It is telling the story of her life as she drives to figure out where she bel...more
This book is broken into twelve chapters and each one takes place in a different city, but the main character Megan is central to about 10 of the 12 and is in the other 2 in some way. It is telling the story of her life as she drives to figure out where she bel...more
2 likes · like · see review
So, I failed to keep my original resolution of not flying through this book. After the first issue, I was completely drawn into Megan's story and wanted to keep reading. Around issue seven, what kept me reading was the hope that anything else in the book would match the emotional resonance of the first issue.
It didn't.
Granted, sometimes it came very close. When Megan commits a social gaffe in New York City and is trying to will herself to not react by leaving yet another place, because leaving...more
It didn't.
Granted, sometimes it came very close. When Megan commits a social gaffe in New York City and is trying to will herself to not react by leaving yet another place, because leaving...more
Most peoples' perception of the opposite sex are pretty damn flawed. There's really only three kinds of people anyone really deals with, the people who you're attracted to, the people who are attracted to you, and the people thrown your way by circumstances (coworkers, churches, book groups, etc). This is hardly a scientific cross sample of anything, but people base their perceptions around such data.
Much has been said about the sort of capricious girls some men find eternally screwing with thei...more
Much has been said about the sort of capricious girls some men find eternally screwing with thei...more
2 likes · like · see review
Seventeen-year-old Meg McKeenan waits in the parking lot of a pharmacy in Portland, Oregon, waiting for her boyfriend to finish forging a prescription for narcotics. Twenty-year-old Meg picks up a hitchhiker in Missoula, Montana only to learn that he's struggling with far more immediate family issues than she is. Twenty-one, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Meg tries on identities at her movie-theater job as easily as she changes a nametag. Twenty-five, Norman, Oklahoma, and she learns her mother has d...more
This oversize graphic novel is a collection of 12 issues of Local, and 12 years in the life of Megan McKeenan. Megan's got a serious case of wanderlust, and drifts to 12 cities in 12 years, setting down roots and ripping them back up. In the end, she faces the ghosts of people she left behind, and finds a little peace in standing still. Megan raises questions of identity, community, trust, friendship, and motion. Her trajectory starts in Portland, OR, then she slips through Minneapolis MN, Richm...more
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I really enjoy it when small independent stories are really a part of a much larger story. Local follows Megan, a wayward woman, as she searches for meaning to her life from one city to the next. Though each story could probably stand alone from the others, you don't really get the full impact of her journey unless you read them all. That being said, I probably would have enjoyed more hints to previous tales in each of the later stories. Little glimpses of why she may have moved on to this new c...more
Megan McKeenan is a drifter - she floats from city to city without ever feeling at home anywhere. We follow her as she muddles her way through various scenarios - a drug-addicted boyfriend; a bloody show-down between two estranged brothers; an obsessive-compulsive roommate; a job at a movie theater where she changes her identity as often as she changes her socks. There are twelve of these stories altogether, each one compelling and well-told. What makes the book even more interesting is that eac...more
I find myself strangely intrigued by this work, but I'm not entirely sure why. Perhaps it is the very effective episodic nature of the storytelling, following the 20-something existence of one Megan McKeenan as she wanders across North America attempting to come to terms with her life and the world. Wood's writing and Kelly's art ably capture the unique vibes of each of the cities and towns Megan visits even without saying much about them. Of course, I particularly enjoyed her sojourn to Minneap...more
Local takes the format and tone of Brian Wood's Demo and adds two competing elements: the decade-plus maturation of a confused girl and the culture of twelve mostly-young-adult-friendly towns. At the outset, the places are the driving force in the story, but by the end, it's all about the girl, Meg. That switch, and the balancing act between the two themes, is frustrating. Some towns you see a lot of, and get a feel for, but others, like Portland, Halifax or Austin, are story-driven, and could h...more
My public library has been displaying graphic novels in the worst possible place, above the reference shelves adjacent to the water fountain. This is the second graphic novel I have read in as many weeks as a result of that “Point of Purchase” approach to circulation. Happily, I am 2 for 2 on enjoying such impulse borrowing.
I didn’t fall in love with Local. I thought I might. It has a loner hitting the open road. She’s a survivor. She’s cute. She goes cross country and meets quirky people. What...more
I didn’t fall in love with Local. I thought I might. It has a loner hitting the open road. She’s a survivor. She’s cute. She goes cross country and meets quirky people. What...more
The story is pretty stunning, but all things considered, I didn't understand why it had to be so dark. So extreme. I'm sure there are plenty of families, people and moments that are like this, but I just felt so depressed every time I put this book down thinking, "Where did THAT come from?!?"
I don't expect the entire world to be sunshine, lollipops and puppies, but I admit that I was thrilled to close the back cover and get "Local" put into my "return to library" stack.
There's talent here. Loads...more
I don't expect the entire world to be sunshine, lollipops and puppies, but I admit that I was thrilled to close the back cover and get "Local" put into my "return to library" stack.
There's talent here. Loads...more
May 12, 2011
Hung
added it
Pretty interesting concept--a series exploring the idea of what it means to be a "local." Each issue (twelve in all) is set in a different North American city and all are loosely linked by the presence of one character, Megan McKeenan (cute freckled indie-chick nonpareil), though sometimes she plays only a minor role. The twelve stories/issues also cover a roughly 12-year time span, starting in 1994, so that adds another layer. By all accounts, each issue received extensive research to ensure th...more
This book deserves all the hype it's gotten. The total package, from start to finish, is an evolution in every sense of the word--the evolution of the character, the writing, the art, even the series concept. And I could tell that even before I read as much in the backmatter.
The main character, Megan, sums up her story and the point of the book (not just as a whole, but in each of the interconnected stories in each issue) thus:
The main character, Megan, sums up her story and the point of the book (not just as a whole, but in each of the interconnected stories in each issue) thus:
You need to do what's best for you, even if it means leaving some p...more
Ryan Kelly is an amazing artist, and I love how he’s drawn this particular series. Local features Megan, a chronic runaway on her journey through life, love, and the pursuit of happiness. She leaves home when she’s seventeen, and after living many different places she’s finally able to come back to her roots (and the ghosts she’s left behind) in Vermont. This is the story of how she finds herself after running away for so long. Local is split into several different stories – not all of which foc...more
This is one of the only graphic novels I've read that is actually a "novel" and not a memoir. It's essentially a collection of short stories that follows Megan McKeenan as she drifts from one location to another, each story representing a different place and a different year of Megan's life. While Megan's restlessness and some of the poor decisions she made could get on my nerves, they also made her incredibly real. I related to her sense of not being rooted anywhere, although 10 locations in 10...more
Apr 26, 2011
Very
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
novels,
picture-pages,
2011,
short-stuff,
borrowed,
city-girls,
hipsteria,
moody-blues,
style-points,
xx,
the-90s,
screwy-teenagers,
good-stuff
Local is mostly the story of Megan McKeenan and her insatiable wanderlust. Each of the 12 stories collected here is set in a different city as she travels around, taking meaningless jobs, hooking up with guys, maybe-almost falling in love, reminiscing about her past, and trying (sometimes successfully, sometimes not) to stay one step ahead of herself. Along the way, she gets into all kinds of trouble and makes a lot of stupid decisions. Basically, this book is like an ode to the nightmare that i...more
2 likes · like · see review
This was beautifully illustrated, and at times painfully vivid. It left me more thoughtful and haunted than moved. Great concept, but shallow characters. Some interesting narrative shifts make this perfect for my project. The main character, Megan McKeenan, appears in every short story, either as the protagonist or a side character. And the reader watches her age and mature through the series from a seventeen year-old to a thirty year-old. There are even flashbacks to Megan's childhood that atte...more
Before I purchased this in a used bookstore, I collected a few of the issues. Unfortunately, the graphic novel is missing one thing that each issue has: The writer and artist's personal playlist/soundtrack given at the end of issue. This hardback collection partially makes up for that by including all the issues' covers in color at the very back. Now onto the main character: A lost wandering youth who travels from city to city trying to find her own way in Americana life. Each issue takes place...more
This was very interesting. The whole premise was for this to be a collection of short-stories set in various places around North America that depicted the daily events in the lives of screwed up, yet utterly normal people. While it wound up being one long story of a young woman named Megan, and was done quite well, the really kool thing was the premise for the background art. All of the places that are depicted were drawn from photographs taken from the actual locations in real life, so that rea...more
A remarkable experiment in the comic book form. Twelve short stories linked together by a common character. Ultimately this collected volume is about that character, a young woman named Megan, who can't seem to stay in one place for too long. Writer Brian Wood's original vision was to make each story into a tribute to its setting (Each installment takes place in a different North American city). But instead we see snapshots of a woman's life as she grows from an 18-year-old runaway to a 30-year-...more
Megan is a female who doesn't like being in one place for too long and leaves after a couple of months. She has trouble keeping friendships, relationships or anything for too long. In her travels she meets and sometimes changes others lives for the better or the worse.
Although this comic book starts off great it goes off and focuses on too many secondary characters that aren't all that interesting and just make the story confusing. I wish the book had focused more on Megan than all the other ch...more
Although this comic book starts off great it goes off and focuses on too many secondary characters that aren't all that interesting and just make the story confusing. I wish the book had focused more on Megan than all the other ch...more
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