A comiXologist recommends…

THE ELECTRIC SUBLIME #4

If you haven’t checked out The Electric Sublime from W. Maxwell Prince, Martín Morazzo, and Mat Lopes it’s a wonderful comic mini-series that is playfully post-modern and perfect for casual art fans or anyone who would enjoy a series that keeps jumping into iconic works of art. That’s right, they jump into and have fights in classical, modernist, and iconic works of art of other periods. Also, with a title like The Electric Sublime, how could you not pick it up and give it a flip-through?

The story features Margot Breslin, director of the Bureau of Artistic Integrity, who is tasked with solving the mystery of why the Mona Lisa is suddenly winking at its viewers. She enlists the help of the “mentally ill or is he” former detective Arthur Brut (yes they shorten his first name to Art as in “Art Brut,” very playful) and a seven-foot talking mannequin named Manny. If you’re not at least semi-intrigued what else do I have to say to intrigue you?

The art is fantastic and really shows Morazzo’s ability to switch back and forth between styles as Breslin and Art pass from reality through famous paintings and out again. The layouts are playful and Morazzo makes interesting choices in regards to perspective. The coloring reminded me of late 80s early 90s edgy comics, maybe a brighter/sleeker version of early Hellblazer, though that reference might surface in my mind due to Art Brut’s character. He is very much embedded in the tradition of troubled lead detectives (i.e Constantine, Rorschach, Jessica Jones).

What really fascinates me about The Electric Sublime is the primary metaphor this creative team is playing with: “the idea in this first issue is that the integrity of our artistic works is intrinsically tied to the stability of the universe: if something’s wrong with an important painting, the foundations of what we know begin to slip, and people start to go insane.” The story brings up many questions about validity in artistic expression and whether or not remix is a valid form of art. Is The Electric Sublime intentionally being self-deprecating? There’s definitely more going on than just the plot.

A heads up to readers, this comic does have some violence but balances the tone of the comic with wonderful references to paintings that had me grinning throughout each issue. The (possible) end of this series in issue #4 genuinely shocked me. I’m hoping that this will sell enough to get picked up as an ongoing because I want to read more.

Josh Doyle-Elmer is email czar of comiXology and probably thinking up a pun right now.