Demon, Volume 3: 10/26/17

Demon, Volume 3 by Jason Shiga is the penultimate book in this graphic novel series that ranks up there with some of the weirdest and most memorable series I've read.

Reunited now with Sweetpea, Jimmy Yee is on a multi-decade bender. But even the best of the most hedonistic activities available get boring over time. The search for bigger, better, badder, more perverted — becomes the addiction. And the honeypot.

In the course of reading this series, I have been developing my road narrative roadmap. In the process I have found it's possible to interpolate an itinerary based on the characters and character transformation.

The Demon series though not obvious at first, save for a few included urban landmarks, is a road narrative. Through character mapping, the mayhem falls into an understandable pattern.

The series opens with a premise similar to Wangs vs the World, with a Chinese man despondent having lost everything. His wife and child are dead. When the suicide attempts repeatedly fail and he learns of his invulnerability, he transforms into an orphan — able to transcend his situation (or escape the cornfield).

The second volume continues with Yee reveling in his power until he realizes that his daughter is also alive. While together, there's a hope that they can resume some sort of normalcy despite their powers.

Volume three continues with that attempt at normalcy, slowly but assuredly degrading as they are confronted with the reality of their immortality and the boredom that sets in trying to recreate a mundane, suburban lifestyle.

With the pretense of normalcy tossed aside, Jimmy and Sweetpea become equals. In previous reviews and articles, I've called this character type the sibling character. Like the Winchesters in Supernatural, family members who are equals and not romantically involved, are often compelled through circumstance, curses, or other means of unrest, to stay on the road. The road becomes their home.

Volume three ends with the family separated again in a situation where both are trapped. Here the two become a minotaur (Sweetpea, trapped inside an elaborate labyrinth). Jimmy is a scarecrow (one who guards the cornfield and can cross it) because his isolation isn't permanent.

The final volume is released on November 7th.

Five stars

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