I hate to admit this, but I am not sure what I read when it comes to Come Again by Nate Powell.
On the surface it is obvious: a free love, of the earth community lives together off by themselves. They only go to town for market days and a few supplies they cannot make or grow themselves. They sell their wares (some even are legal) and even dance to bands playing. The community consists of friends old and new because of the community (some are more friendly than others if you get the meaning), there are children, there is everyday life. There is music and mischief.
We start off with a surreal beginning and then go into the “present day” (late 1970’s) where Hal and her son are trying to get the lice out of her hair. Or is the imp playing a trick on her? Through Hal’s flashbacks, dreams and present we get an awkward and beautiful story of love, sex and magic. We see her start of her affair with her best friend’s husband, you see her ex-boyfriend/partner trying to co-parent their son and you see the “whatever” out in the woods that has some strange power to make people forget.
There is a mixture of light and dark; literally and figuratively. The light of the illustrations highlights as much as the dark and shadows. The theme is dark (secrets, supernatural creature). The art of Powell’s sometimes is easy to read and others not so easy. This is because the subject can be convoluted, too surreal, too crowed or text issues (the font can sometimes be oddly blurring into the background). You cannot really tell anyone the story, because it is just the everyday with something supernatural mixed in that could be almost naturally be explained. Yet, how to do explain the entire community forgetting about the missing boy?
What is the message? What is the point of this? What is Powell trying to say? I guess I missed that. Yet, this was something I mostly enjoyed reading. I guess, there is no point if you do not find it. Yet, if you do, that is just a legitimate. Older teens could read, but more for adults.
Powell is the artist of John Lewis’s March series.
