 |
|
Published: 2020 Acquired: October 2020 Read: November 2020 |
This is the third Derf Backderf comic my father-in-law (like Derf, a Clevelander) has bought for me, but the first I have gotten around to reading. It chronicles the four days leading up to the Kent State Massacre, especially focusing on the details of the movements of the four students who would end up dying. Backderf's end notes demonstrate copious and seemingly rigorous research, drawing on a wide variety of primary and secondary sources, and integrating contradictory information into a coherent narrative; when he is unable to make a clear determination of truth, he explains why he made the choices he did.
It's a strong piece of graphic nonfiction; the ability of the comics page to alternate between exhaustive written detail and impressionistic visual imagery is well utilized by Backderf. Sometimes, in the actual gunning down of the four, he can use both at once to maximum effect. There's a crushing sense of inevitability to it all, but it's the kind of inevitability that on reflection is not inevitable: it's an inevitability born of bad choices, and if any one of a number of people in positions of power had reacted better, this need not have happened. But none of them had the wisdom or the foresight to act appropriately-- and as Backderf details, they also reacted inappropriately, spending the next couple months spreading misinformation to make themselves look good instead of reacting truthfully.
Backderf has a sort of "indie comix" style that is not "realistic" per se but I think is meant to evoke a feeling of "realism" through exagerration if that distinction makes sense-- his style wouldn't look out of place on American Splendor, for example. It works well for the buffonish authority figures and the scenes of mob violence; I found it was less successful when it came to differentiating the college kids who form the emotional heart of the story, and I couldn't always remember which one was which. It would be nice to reread it and see if I can keep them straight better, because I think their generic-ness undermined some of the story's emotional impact. But even so, it was impactful, and unfortunately, there are some ways it feels all-too-like the issues Backderf discusses in the 1970s haven't really gone away in the 2010s, and honestly have gotten even worse. (Though on the other hand, his world of politically engaged revolutionary college students seems a world apart from the one I know as a college professor now!)
No comments:
Post a Comment