THIS REVIEW OF NIGHT PEOPLE #1 & #2 IS SPOILER-FREE.
by Matthew Amuso. Night People is an anthology series adapted from a collection of four stories penned by author Barry Gifford. If you don’t know who that is, that’s okay; not many people do. But Gifford wrote the novel on which David Lynch’s film Wild at Heart is based, and if you’ve never seen that film, please, please do. Not only is it a violent, bizarre, sexy, brilliant joy ride through the back streets, run-down motels, and bloody crime scenes of America, it also features the single greatest use of symbolism in cinema history.
If Wild at Heart is already your jam, you’ll recognize some of the beats in the first two issues of Night People. Hilarious, nightmare newsflashes leak out of dive bar television sets and car radios. A couple takes a bloody road trip through the gothic South, with stops in Tallahassee and New Orleans and various coffee stains on the map in between. Cultural references fly by high and low. A 90s dance hit provides the soundtrack for sex between a priestess and a believer, and a bartender educates a cop about the Greek gods of Sleep and Death, the children of Night and grandchildren of Chaos. Those concepts seem to delineate the borders of Gifford’s world. Even when the sun is beating down hot on the asphalt, nighttime and the uncontrollable visions that accompany it are just over the horizon. Or maybe they’re already here.
Unfortunately, writer Chris Condon (That Texas Blood) doesn’t bring Gifford’s visions to life with the same delirious verve that Lynch did. (Definitely an unfair comparison.) Having never read Gifford’s prose, it’s difficult to say which strengths or faults in the storytelling belong to him or his adapters. Nonetheless, the film version of Wild at Heart feels dreamlike and intentionally fractured, the jagged edges of the narrative scraping at your subconscious. Conversely, the comic book version of Night People is just disjointed and difficult to follow.
Single-issue comics have limited real estate. Most of it is wasted in the first two issues of Night People, not because nothing happens, but because its many scenes and characters don’t add up to anything. Plenty has been said about the pros and cons of “compressed” and “decompressed” writing in comics, but more than anything, these stories feel deflated. Like a popped bicycle tire, these first two issues have the shape of something fun, but they’re not getting you anywhere.
Strange and nasty characters, some of whom verge on being fascinating, wander in and out of these stories, appear and disappear without displaying any clear motivations, their actions inexplicable. Subplots go nowhere except towards incidental violence. Condon and his art team are exploring interesting thematic territory, but little of their efforts assemble into a readable schematic. There’s an omnipresent obsession with feminism and Christianity, two subjects guaranteed to summon strong feelings, but these stories offer no new observations about either that might challenge readers. Even an incestual relationship comes off as nothing more than grotesque window dressing.
William Faulkner’s influence weighs heavily here — he’s quoted at the beginning of the first issue — so your feelings about his work may help determine if Night People is worth checking out. If you believe Faulkner was a genius, give this a chance. But if Light in August made you consider switching majors from English to something less tortuous — like, say, Theoretical Mathematics — Brian Level’s (Chained to the Grave) art on the first issue deserves a close look.
Level’s style pairs well with the subject matter, all angular yet organic shapes, black ink, splattered textures, and menace. His characters are true night people, each sketchy or sinister in some way. He also has a flair for corpses, blood spurts, and nasty expressions. There’s one panel in particular, a close-up of a drooling mouth twisted with cruelty, that’s been flashing through my mind the last few nights and will probably hang around in my nightmares long after the rest of this is forgotten.
4 / 10
Night People #1 and #2 are available now. Issue #3 drops on May 8.
Oni Press / $4.99
Written by Chris Condon.
Art by Brian Level & Alexandre Tefenkgi.
Colors by Ronda Pattison.
Letters by Shawn Lee.
Check out this 5-page preview of Night People #1, courtesy of Oni Press:
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