“Suzie Down in the Quiet”
creators: Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky
release date: September 2013
publisher: Image Comics
Oh man. When I walked into my comic book shop yesterday, I had no idea I would be picking up this book–technically a “fourth printing of the second printing,” with a very 80’s Step Brothers-esque photo of Fraction and Zdarsky in terrible sweaters posing for the camera. Good thing I was encouraged to not judge a book by this particular cover.
Suzie and John seem like normal folks, but their sex lives have an unexpected side effect: when they climax, time stops for a few moments–I know, right?–and they can move around unaffected by the slowing of time. The first issue introduces us to the couple, in a seemingly, er, compromising position, and then focuses on Suzie’s backstory and character. Among other things, we learn of her family tragedy, and her obsession with saving the local library, which the bank is about to foreclose.
Fraction and Zdarsky’s debut story, while not for the prude, is incredibly funny and entertaining, while still presenting a story of substance. I find it admirable that they focused the first issue on Suzie, and not John, and gave her no apologies or shame for her sex life and exploration of it. Well done, sirs. Thankfully this issue is far more than just exposition, and Fraction’s trademark wit and his ability to develop characters while at a brisk pace shines through, and each panel of Zdarsky’s art is a joy, particularly when Suzie’s powers ‘activate.’
Even though there is a lot of sex–from Suzie’s first experiences by herself in the shower, to some rather hilariously over-the-top bathroom drawings, to her growing experiences with other people as she reaches adulthood, the sex never feels overly gratuitous or thrown in for no reason. If anything, Suzie’s tragic loss of her father–her initial reason to find another “escape”–bring a dark shadow and real substance to her character and the story at large. Perhaps their superpower, while creative and hilarious, is also symbolic of something else, and that is where the real power of this story lies, depending on how it progresses. While some other reviews seem to think that is a downside, I am more concerned that somewhere along the line, we might find others with odd sex-related superpowers, that will make John and Suzie’s more convoluted.
If anything, the darkness of Suzie’s past was brilliantly coupled with her hilarious misfiring attempts to understand what exactly is happening to her–not just in terms of orgasms, but her strange ability afterwards. Asking the school “sluts,” her gynecologist, and even (most sadly) her drunken mother, all turn up false, reminding us of an earlier era when asking these sorts of questions weren’t as easy as heading to Google or Web MD.
Though we’ll surely find out more about John in the next issue–and how he perhaps helps Suzie with her goal of saving the library–this ‘fourth printing’ is not one to be missed, if you, like me, didn’t get to the last three.
Reading Art 