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Puberty = Anarchy: Elk’s Run

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By: DThompson | in: Books, Comics |

To what lengths would you go to keep your family safe? What are the limits of your love for your family? Can a person’s desire to save their family lead them to kill their family?

Elk's Run

Elk’s Run, a recent graphic novel by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Noel Tuazon tells the story of a town. Elk’s Ridge was formed by disgruntled Vietnam veterans, desperate to escape the troubles of the world. It’s a peaceful utopia carved into the West Virginia hills accessible only through a single tunnel. And that is where the story starts, with four teenage friends goofing in the tunnel after dark, and with one man, desperately attempting to escape the “perfection” of Elk’s Ridge.

A tragic accident ensues, only the first in a series of increasingly violent and increasingly senseless acts acts to tear at the town of true believers. You the reader and the town of Elk’s Ridge are about to very painfully discover the truth of the old axiom ‘violence never solved anything’.

Elk's Run

The book’s sixteen-year-old hero, John, son of the town’s leader, hates his father. It’s but one of many contingencies this planned to the nth degree community couldn’t possibly plan for. No doubt Elk’s Ridge was a utopia, until the children started showing up, and even then, not until puberty set in. As John points out, there are seventeen boys and four girls, not a good mix for a closed community.

That John hates his father is actually not so bad as John’s dad is revealed to be less than completely stable. The man kills several times over the course of the two days the story covers. First because it’s “the law”, next because he’s “protecting the community”, then because a fellow citizen “committed an unforgivable mistake” and finally just because his son made him angry. The degeneration of the peaceful law-abiding community is complete in the course of one day.

Elk's Run

The biggest error in the story is that many of the events hinge upon the semi-revolutionary acts of John and his friends who think for themselves and resist the destructive path the town is on. Some teenagers might act this way if they were raised to question authority but you wouldn’t really expect a kid from Bible-thumping, shut off from the outside world completely, Elk’s Ridge to demonstrate that level of indepenence.

Elk’s Run is a cracking good story with a fast pace making for a quick and exciting read.. The anti-violence theme is apparent, without beating you over the head. Though the book covers two days it really wants to focus on the events of a single 24 hour period. It offers tantalizing glimpses of the motivations that lead to the creation of the town, and also back story on the central teens. The lack of a proper population base has led not just to a dearth of relationships but to everyday losses such as the inability to field any kind of sporting team. Despite these insights some discoveries remain tantalizingly unexplored. A stack of maps and blueprints indicate a plan by John’s father and others to destroy government buildings in several states. This desire not just to pull out of society but to actively destroy it is passed over too quickly becoming just another reason for John to dislike his dad when it should be more.

Elk's Run

Though Elk’s Run focuses on John and his father and their ongoing test of wills the most surprising character is revealed to be John’s mother. At first she’s a TV mom, all smiles and love but with a single slap she begins to change into something much harder and infinitely more complicated. Soon she’s a living symbol of the cancer of unquestioning belief that has festered at the center of Elk’s Ridge for, apparently, several years. She threatens the townsfolk with a gun and calls the closest thing John has ever had to a girlfriend a “whore” just for speaking to him.

Despite the improbability of the teenage protagonists’actions the reality of towns like Elk’s Ridge makes this book a success. Well written character backgrounds effectively convey motivation and help you buy into the increasingly apocalyptic problems of the teens as they try to escape the only home they’ve ever known.

Verdict: Cult madness from the inside makes for good reading.

[Buy Elk’s Run]


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Posted on May 9, 2007

Comments

One Response to “Puberty = Anarchy: Elk’s Run”

  1. geekgasmic.com on May 10th, 2007 10:12 am

    Puberty = Anarchy: Elk’s Run - The Plugg

    DThompson reviews the graphic novel, “Elk’s Run”


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