Strange Fruit – The Pull – 10-14-15
Where September proved to be one of the slower months in recent history, October seems to have dwarfed it after just two weeks. Marvel is in the middle of its All New All Different relaunch amidst the epic Secret Wars event. That combined with DC churning out tons of great titles makes for a great month of reading.
But there is one outlier amidst this group of books, and that is the controversial Strange Fruit. This Boom! Studios published title has garnered a good amount of attention as both its author (Mark Waid) and artist (J.G. Jones) are white American men tackling the touchy subject of race and racism in a Jim Crowe south. A lot of people were upset that such a book was published, claiming that it shouldn’t have even been made at all. I think that they just don’t get the point. It seems too easy to pass judgement on a comic book where they have only one issue to digest. Given the resumes of each of the creators on this book, I think it is only fair to pass judgement on this mini-series only after it has been completed. Personally, I wasn’t offended by the book, rather, I found it as a great exposition to a story where an oppressed people can find redemption. It is a startlingly vivid portrait of an America that a lot of people would like to forget, but that is a problem; we should not forget our history. How can one improve the future without realizing the mistakes of the past?
Strange Fruit may prove to be an amazing tale or it may prove to be a monumental bust. As of now, I can’t tell. But I will give it a chance and will withhold any final judgments on the book until it is done. And yes, I did say that the first issue was good (not my final judgement), but I just can’t tell how it will end up without seeing the whole picture.
Until then, here is what I plan on picking up and reading this week:
Strange Fruit #2
Rebels #7
Batman #45
Low #10
Sex Criminals #13
Walking Dead #147
Captain America White #3
Journey to Star Wars The Force Awakens Shattered Empire #3
That’s all I have. Let me know what you plan on picking up this week!