Adventures In Awesome: Local by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly

Another small post, not amounting to much, but I wanted to commemorate the closing chapter of one of the very best comics released this decade; Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly's Local. Following a young woman around America over the course of several years in a series of bittersweet vignettes, Wood and Kelly have created an emotionally honest, episodic tale touching on familial bonds, adolescent mistakes, personal growth, loneliness, isolation, and love. It's absolutely essential reading for everyone. Canyon does not often read comics (other than Dan Slott's She-Hulk and Buffy season eight), but upon reading the eleventh issue of Local (which I had left in the water closet like a sort of mind-trap), she was pretty much hooked.


The last issue was released today in the US, tomorrow in the UK, and I'll be making a special trip to Orbital Comics to find out what happens to Megan McKeenan when she finally returns home. Though it's not awesome that it is over, it is awesome that it is being released in hardcover in September (hopefully with all of the supplemental material printed at the end of each issue), giving everyone plenty of time to save up so that they can buy it. If you love great storytelling, this is an absolutely essential purchase. It will make your life 100% better, I promise. Those aches and pains you suffer from? Gone, in a flash. The asshole at work who keeps making fun of you? Deported. Your home? Suddenly free from dirt and dust as if by magic. It can cure the afflicted! It's made of pure pheromones and diamond dust! I'm serious, you have to buy it.