Have you ever had to make a choice? A choice so big it could decide your whole future? Have you ever doubted yourself, constantly asking “Was it the right thing?” Brian Woods’ Demo is about change, something college students know a lot about.
Everyone in college, whether they are just starting freshmen, or are seniors about the take the leap into the world, knows how terrifying change is, and most importantly, how alone you can feel during it. Woods’ Demo manages to capture that fear and uncertainty in a way that is almost too real.
Demo is a collection of stories, ranging from crappy jobs, “Midnight to Six” to bad influences, “Stand Strong.” But each story has one thing in common: young men and women, like you and me, coming to different intersections of their lives.
In some of the stories, such as “NYC” or “Emmy” some of the characters have certain abilities, like telekinesis, or the power to force people to do whatever you want them to. Yet, Woods staves off the cliché of “saving the world” for a more realistic setting. I don’t know about you, but if I had the power to control people, the last thing I’d do is save the world. Instead the young people in these comics use their abilities for other reasons; get revenge on an old unfriendly neighborhood or knock over a bank to pay bills (come on, with the price of tuition
these days, I’d do the same thing).
But the actions have consequences that, sometimes, are too big to handle. In “Breaking Up” Woods chronicles the end of a relationship between two people. He constantly switches and timelines of the relationship. From the first night they met, to the last night they had coffee together. Finally, Woods ends the short with a blank canvas, and a simple promise to remain friends; something cliché, but at the same time honest.
Of course Woods was only responsible for the story, but the art was in the hands of Becky Cloonan, What’s interesting about Cloonan’s art work is that it changes from story to story. In the first comic, “NYC” the art style is heavy on ink, but the lines are textured.
In “Stand Strong” the art shifts to crowded landscapes, and dark heavy lines. Being able to master one art style is amazing, but mastering multiple and tailoring them to fit a story is nothing short of genius.
In life, the only thing that is constant is the element of change. Moving away from home to your first dorm, or frantically going over your resume because you don’t think you’re ready for the real world. Change is all around us, and it’s a scary thing. Demo is all about change, and the choices we make. It’s not a manual for how to live your life, or a plan of attack for how to get an entry job. No, Demo is a collection of stories about people like you. People who are about to change, and people who question their choices every day, just like all of us. Demo may not tell you how to get that new job, or how to survive your first chemistry mid-term, but it will comfort, it will dust you off, and push you out into the world, subtly whispering, “You’re not alone.”
