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Channel Zero #2

Channel zero

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Special interest groups have bullied the government into passing the Clean Act, effectively killing freedom of speech and silencing the country into submission. TV and God become one and the same as America wages its own holy war against its citizens. Meet Jennie 2.5, media slut turned info-terrorist, out to save the country from itself, and restore free will and self expression. Hailed internationally as ground-breaking work in the field of sequential art, Channel Zero challenges and tests the limits, combining current events and no-future shock into a dark, paranoid, deep-ambient visual narrative.

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1998

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About the author

Brian Wood

1,173 books961 followers
Brian Wood's history of published work includes over fifty volumes of genre-spanning original material.

From the 1500-page future war epic DMZ, the ecological disaster series The Massive, the American crime drama Briggs Land, and the groundbreaking lo-fi dystopia Channel Zero he has a 20-year track record of marrying thoughtful world-building and political commentary with compelling and diverse characters.

His YA novels - Demo, Local, The New York Four, and Mara - have made YALSA and New York Public Library best-of lists. His historical fiction - the viking series Northlanders, the American Revolution-centered Rebels, and the norse-samurai mashup Sword Daughter - are benchmarks in the comic book industry.

He's written some of the biggest franchises in pop culture, including Star Wars, Terminator, RoboCop, Conan The Barbarian, Robotech, and Planet Of The Apes. He’s written number-one-selling series for Marvel Comics. And he’s created and written multiple canonical stories for the Aliens universe, including the Zula Hendricks character.

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5 stars
163 (25%)
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209 (33%)
3 stars
177 (28%)
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69 (10%)
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13 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
Profile Image for Johanna.
472 reviews15 followers
September 10, 2014
“Channel Zero” is a sobering look at a government agenda that thrives on keeping people ignorant. For any paranoid readers out there, it is easy to envision that the plan to intellectually disable individuals is being inaugurated as we go about our daily lives. Although providing a sobering message and some fantastic art work, “Channel Zero” does not pack the proverbial punch that it should have.

My main criticism of this novel is that it is unable to keep up the energy and interest that is generated in the first few chapters. The novel opens with the scene of New York that has undergone censorship. The government has passed a ‘Clean Act’ that heavily limits the freedom of speech of individuals and gives the government full censorship rights over the media that is available to all citizens. The only media freely available to individuals is so filtered and dumbed-down that the majority of citizens lack the mental fortitude to question the government’s agenda or generate any thought demonstrating individuality. Luckily there is a resistance movement prepared to fight for the freedom of thought and speech. This is where my interest began to wane. The resistance movement appears to be a group of individuals who wish to appear ‘hip’ and seek attention rather than liberation. At the forefront of this resistance movement is Jennie 2.5 who uses the government’s media against them with questionable results.

Jennie 2.5 is a poor anti-hero as she seems far more interested in generating attention rather than bringing about change. While the artwork is fantastic in its monotone starkness, the plot doesn’t compare and is often overshadowed by the dramatic panels. Even the initial anti-establishment message seems to become lost in the conflicting ideologies of Jennie 2.5. This may be due to the inexperience of the author in working with this medium (“Channel Zero” was Brian Wood’s first attempt to create a comic) or extensive over-editing by publishers.

Overall this novel is defiantly worth a read for the first few chapters alone.
Profile Image for Matt.
594 reviews7 followers
October 12, 2012
Style and message don't always add up here, that might be the only beef I have. There's something false about a stylish, hip, beautiful, half-naked pantified revolution. It trips over a deeper oppression.

It's still an interesting piece.
Profile Image for Charles.
Author 41 books288 followers
August 3, 2018
Not really my cup of tea. Didn't like the protagonist, especially after she advocates letting China massacre the Tibetans by saying it's no one else's business. I understand this is the author's first work so take that into account.
24 reviews
July 28, 2013
I found this work to be disappointing. Jennie 2.5 is a childish zealot who does not seem to really promote anything other than her own hype. The redeeming factor in this is that the end of the story she realizes she is just an icon, and that her message (whatever it may have been) is completely irrelevant. She seems to get off more on the idea of being a badass as opposed to actually using her resources to create a message and being gratified by the results. The means were enough for her. The concept of the 'Cleaners' was a nice touch, but not enough to really save this book. Instead, I think the importance of Wood's work should not be on the revolutionary aspects of Jennie 2.5, or the idea of standing up for oneself, but is more in relation to the rise of the hipster. Maybe that's why I did not identify with the character, but she really just seems to want to be an icon, as opposed to a truly subversive and influential thinker. I base this distinction on her actions as opposed to the governmental smear campaign that cemented that position.
Additionally, the art is nothing really spectacular. Mostly full color splashes that seem like propaganda posters. Some of them are inspiring and capture the essence of revolt and mass hysteria, but many others just seem to lose all reality in the noise. Sometimes it was hard to decipher the simple actions of the page, which made it hard to establish a clear sense of progress to the story. Maybe this is what they were going for, a very stagnant circular artistic feel where definition was easily lost, but I found it to be more annoying than helpful.
An okay read, that certainly was worth attention as an early work, but Wood's current projects show vast improvement in his characters and storytelling ability.
Profile Image for Zoë Birss.
779 reviews22 followers
August 2, 2015
This is great cyberpunk fiction, by the creator of DMZ and the currently running series, Rebels. Like DMZ, Channel Zero takes place in a dystopian future New York, with characters seeking to resist a police state.

This is Brian Wood's first comics project, completed just as he finished art school. It was created entirely in hard copy, cut and paste with rubber cement, ink, and gesso. It looks like a very well done zine. Comics readers may find that Wood's heavy blacks and high contrast pages remind them of Sin City.

Channel Zero is very much a product of its time, created in the late nineties before Columbine, before 9-11, before The Matrix and Fight Club. The Internet is new and characters still use bulletin boards. We see floppy disks, VHS video recorders, and analog surveillance. For a younger reader, Channel Zero may seem a little jarring and foreign at first. Having come of age in the nineties, I found the excellently captured snapshot of this era very welcome.

Recommended to fans of Sin City, V for Vendetta, DMZ, Scarlet, and The Matrix.
Profile Image for Cale.
3,919 reviews26 followers
August 17, 2013
This is a much rougher approach to Brian Wood's usual themes, owing mainly to its being one of his first forays into comics. The style is rougher, the layout not as strong, and the message not as evolved. It's interesting as a starting point, but not as much in and of itself. Jennie 2.5 is never fleshed out enough to be really interesting, although there are some good seeds of character for her, especially in the Becky Cloonan illustrated prequel/sequel. But overall, beyond the where's waldo hunting for slogans, there wasn't much to keep me involved. I'm too old for its very just-post-college rebellion.
Profile Image for Craven.
Author 2 books20 followers
May 8, 2008
There's not much to this.It's about a dystopian America where the Christian Right runs things and censors all othe voices. Unfortunately, there's not much to it it's underdeveloped and dull. Basically, it just introduces the characters and the quickly ends the story. I wondered if it was the first volume of a long series, but unfortunately it is not. Just a quick, weak story. The art in it is good, I'll give it that. But don't waste your time.
Profile Image for Drew.
1,629 reviews9 followers
September 5, 2012
I really, really wish I had been able to read this years ago when it was first coming out. This is a fantastic tale of what happens when government descends on the people in the form of the 'Clean Act' to uphold a moral standard in the media and how people live their daily lives. Censorship, human rights abuse and the people fighting against it. The art is beautiful, aggresive and rough in all the right ways. Recommended.
Profile Image for Brian Stillman.
Author 2 books8 followers
December 2, 2008
Based on Wood's artwork and Bendis' artwork (Fire, Goldfish, etc.), I guess this means Greg Rucka and Brian Vaughan would also produce black and white artwork heavy on the black. .

Not nearly as good as DMZ. Feels dated. Self aware. For some reason it left me thinking of Robert Longo's film version of Johnny Mnemonic. It falls well short of what it might have been.
Profile Image for Brea Grant.
Author 1 book607 followers
December 29, 2018
i really liked this - set in an alternate future in which the christian right controls the media.
Profile Image for Frank.
992 reviews1 follower
August 7, 2017
Classic post-cyberpunk/pre-Matrix 90s dystopia. Very much of its time stylistically and thematically, but unfortunately like a lot of similar work from this period, it now feels more relevant than retro. America has passed The Clean Act in an attempt to purify the country (think Guiliani's NYC to the extreme). While there is a central rebellious figure--the dial-up hacking Jennie 2.5--there isn't much of a rebellion. In fact, that's the scariest part: the acceptance and apathy of the masses.

Fun fact: Brian Wood started this as an art school project. You can see how it stayed with him and influenced his later work, especially the excellent DMZ.
Profile Image for Brian.
Author 1 book11 followers
May 20, 2020
I am late to this book, Wood's earliest work, and I seem to have a knack for reading prescient GNs at this time, but it's a striking look at government and its control of its populace. Plus, it's revealing to see how someone new to the medium of creating comic books (at that time) can approach it with such raw and varied styles, and show the unlimited potential of visual storytelling. Sometimes the art and narrative are uneven, but that unevenness, strangely, adds urgency to the story.
109 reviews4 followers
August 11, 2024
It's hard to see the connection between early Brian Wood like Channel Zero and Demo and the Brian Wood of DMZ and The Massive beyond a love of NYC and a dislike of the government.

I feel like I like Wood's comics more the less he draws personally. His early style relies a hell of a lot on cut ups and photocopying to make up the pages and it comes at the expense of readability, artistic merit and a sense of what's going on.

Channel Zero feels like it would have been more timely in the 1990s when TV was essentially a cultural monolith and Clear Channel was a titan. Very of it's time. Occasionally cool in parts but just not much there.
Profile Image for Ian.
264 reviews
October 30, 2017
1 point for scary future of censorship - government only allows what they want released.
1 point for revolution
-1 point for giving up in the end
82 reviews1 follower
July 15, 2018
Great graphic novel. Depressingly relevant in our tRumpian dystopia.
Profile Image for Konstantine.
336 reviews
November 20, 2021
think it stumbles over itself too much to actually say anything meaningful, but i think i can excuse that as a young artists first book. the black and white art looks sharp at least.
Profile Image for Matt.
Author 3 books28 followers
September 5, 2007
For those of you who’ve discovered Brian Wood through his highly acclaimed Vertigo title, DMZ, it’s time to reach into his back catalogue and check out one of his very best works to date.

At the start of the story, special interest groups have bullied the government into passing the Clean Act, effectively killing freedom of speech. Enter Jennie 2.5 – a high tech Cindy Sheehan. Part revolutionary. Part side-show. Jennie sets out to create a pirate television station with the hope of waking up the masses.

If these themes sound familiar to those who have cracked open DMZ, it should be no surprise. Channel Zero is your Brian Wood primer. Threads from this initial work can be seen running throughout his comics. But as opposed to the polished machine that is DMZ, Channel Zero is aggressively rough around the edges. Featuring a gallery of reproducible anti-Clean Act propaganda stickers and flyers, Wood evokes DIY underground ‘zine design and mentality. It’s a nice touch that metaphorically reflects Jennie’s efforts to throw her own wrench into the system.

As far as the storytelling goes, Wood brings together a pastiche of narrative styles that show off his willingness to experiment with the traditional comic book form. In the end, the various narrative elements come together seamlessly to form a cohesive whole. But it’s Wood’s underrated abilities as a draftsman that really make the book tick. Wood’s art is raw, sometimes crude, but always vital. And when the words and art are put together, we see a story about the churn of our attention cycle. How people become stories. How stories are distilled into ideas and how ideas then take on a life of their own.

For long time Brian Wood fans, it’s also fun to note that this is the birthplace of some familiar faces like everyone’s favorite gun-toting couriers, Moustafa and Special.

What was relevant in 1997 is still relevant in 2007 (perhaps even more so, as we begin to wake from our long national slumber.) Censorship isn’t going away. The mechanisms that seek to keep us quiet are becoming more sophisticated, more legislated, and more subtly entrenched in the economic framework of our everyday lives- making this the perfect time to go back and give Channel Zero another read.
Profile Image for Burt.
296 reviews36 followers
July 4, 2017
Channel Zero is the world that I'm afraid we're going to head to if we don't get our heads out of our asses and insist on keeping our rights. Sometime in the near future, the Decency in Media Act is passed by the United States Legislature and signed into law, making anything but godfearing, patriotic tripe illegal on the airwaves or in print. Free speech is suppressed and America is cowed into obeisance and brought into the bosom of a benevolent Christian government that makes sure its warmongering is wrapped in flag-waving, super-right-wing rhetoric which will go unchallenged by a silenced people.

It's Brian Wood's first novel and as such it shows. It's stark, minimalistic. The writing isn't polished, the story is very straightforward. These aren't bad things necessarily. This is another case where characters take backseat to environment. Jennie 2.5, the story's free speech terrorist protagonist, doesn't need to be complex. She herself admits that she's not important anymore. the only thing important to her is fighting the gestalt and making sure people will get the chance to be heard again. It goes very much back to V for Vendetta.

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

It's very good on the basis of the message, despite its simplicity. I recommend it for artists particularly (of any kind). Without free speech, the only thing art becomes is propaganda.
Profile Image for Michel.
466 reviews32 followers
August 25, 2015
Channel Zero speelt zich in dezelfde tijdlijn als The Couriers af, maar is een eind tijdlozer. Niet dat het ook niet meteen zal te duiden zijn van wanneer het was en in wat voor tijdsgeest het geschreven is, maar het is gewoon veel volwassener.

In een wereld die niet eens zo ver van de onze is verwijderd, wordt de mensheid in slapa gesust door televisie en entertainment, terwijl de Verenigde Staten onder een extreem-Christelijke president een soort super-Patriot Act stemt, en Midden-Amerika zowat binnenvalt.

Jennie probeert er iets aan te doen, door in te breken in de televisieuitzendingen.

Het heeft iets weg van ernstige luisterliedjes van lang geleden: ongetwijfeld heel erg gemeend op het moment zelf (Boudewijn De Groot geeft een lijstje van zijn eerstewereldproblemen), maar, goh, zo met mijn bijna 41 jaar uit mijn trekzetel bekeken: doe keer normaal gasten.

Elke generatie zal, vermoed ik, wel zijn eigen “de wereld is om zeep en NU moet er iets aan gedaan worden”-werkstukken maken, om dan twintig jaar later vrolijk zelf de wereld om zeep te halen voor de volgende generatie, zeker?

Desalniettemin: aangeraden, Channel Zero.
Profile Image for Danijel Jedriško.
277 reviews2 followers
April 19, 2016
What's the difference between the activist and the model citizen? "Channel Zero". We all live our ordinary lives, watching 100+ useless channels on cable TV, thinking how our life needs a change, but we're still staying our respective comfort zones - doing nothing. "Channel Zero" in the beginning has very simple message: YOUR MIND IS A WEAPON - USE IT!

Weapons can get rusty. Sometimes, if you don't use your weapon you forget about it.

"Channel Zero" is a story about Jennie 2.5. She is young rebel telling all the unwanted truths. Unwanted because the majority don't care about them. If they have the TV show in which they can lose themselves, and fireman saving a puppy from the tree - nothing else matters.

Brian Wood has written the this criticism of the American system and he went as far as he could. He even compared the administration of the USA with the Nazi regime. Pretty extreme and pretty imaginative. Furthermore, the origin of that criticism is inside the USA, not anywhere else. Respect!

It's highly recommended, for your own mental health, to tune into "Channel Zero".
Profile Image for Unwisely.
1,503 reviews15 followers
September 5, 2010
This reminded me a *lot* of The Nightly News - a similar anti-media stance. Interestingly, the worry in this book was that people would give the government too much power and it would go sort of The Handmaid's Tale/Revolt in 2100. Which, from the mighty future of a decade later would be humorous (if we hadn't instead imbued insidious hydra-like entities with all of the power but none of the nominal control of the people, of course).

Three stars instead of higher because it seemed a little too short, and a little bit of a cop-out. Maybe it was supposed to be a call to action (and maybe had I read it 15 years ago I would have been inspired), but from the here-now it just seemed like a yup, we're all screwed sort of thing. Alas.
Profile Image for Vincent.
244 reviews3 followers
December 22, 2012
In Channel Zero, a woman named Jennie tells the origin story of her social activism in the aftermath of the "Clean Act", a decency act that quickly turned into a campaign of censorship and intellectual subjection. As I read, I felt many of the ideas in DMZ grew out of Channel Zero -- notions of revolution, manipulating media, cliches of the sleeping masses, and collateral damage.

What is interesting about this story is not the revolution being incited, but Jennie's realization that in her desire to rebel she has become what she is rebelling against. Post-exile she has become a celebrity. There are whole "underground" commercial entities devoted to selling her tee shirts and other memorabilia. Pre-exile, advertisers were plotting ways they could sell time during her broadcasts. Even her arrest was a calculated TV ratings event!
Profile Image for Artur Coelho.
2,602 reviews74 followers
January 15, 2013
Uma genial distopia fortemente inspirada na estética cyberpunk onde uma américa futura se afunda no fundamentalismo da moral e bons costumes. Resta a guerrilha urbana da informação para contrapôr à pressão dos meios de comunicação manipulados e do conformismo como única via possível. Se o argumento é interessante, a ilustração explode numa iconografia de manifesto cultural punk, cru, agressivo e pensado para provocar os neurónios. Espaço urbano, distopia social e a infoesfera colidem num preto e branco de arestas cortantes. Channel Zero foi a primeira graphic novel de Brian Wood, que se distingue correntemente com as séries DMZ e The Massive, formas elegantes de hacktivismo no género comic.
Profile Image for Tom.
123 reviews2 followers
February 23, 2011
This book started off very well I must say. The very dramatic black and white artwork surrounding a rebellious girl, Jennie 2.5, in a future where Christian proponents "encourage" the government to create the clean act to control the media. A lot of back story led up to a strange ending and then a bunch of after thoughts concerning the actual story. This book was just not interesting to me.
3 reviews1 follower
September 17, 2013
This is a great book that I would recommend to everyone, due to it's futuristic take on a modern world, while maintaining a reality that is not always seen in these types of books (V for Vendetta etc.). However, the ending is a bit abrupt as I would love to see what happens to Jeannie 2.0 in the future, perhaps a sequel may come out?
Profile Image for Fraser Sherman.
Author 10 books33 followers
October 29, 2013
Visually striking but rather lacking in substance. Right-wing fundamentalists have taken over America establishing total media conformity. Sheeple walk around believing the truth, heroes try to wake them from their delusions. It doesn't seem to have any deeper insight than Don't Be Sheeple, and the book's too big for that to be enough.
Profile Image for Ethan.
121 reviews13 followers
October 11, 2007
Disappointing, not bad for a first graphic novel, but felt like it was trying to hard to be shocking. Brian Wood created an interesting and very probable future for America, but didn't do anything with it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews

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