Is it too early to say 'best limited series of 2009?' North 40 is a total joy to read: smart, quirky and original. Working off a forbidden-book plot device, it takes traditional backwoods horror-film elements – beleagered sheriff, ragtag townsfolk, geographical isolation and supernatural excess – and applies a benignly slanted view to them. Half the fun is in watching the story dodge expectations, such as the way the community reacts – or rather, doesn't – to the spontaneous mutations and superpowers inflicted on it. Whole story arcs could be devoted to watching people freak out at, then adapt to, their unwanted evolution; it's been done before. But Aaron Williams wisely skips the cliched superhuman angst in favour of wry black humour and a weirdly affectionate view of 'everyday' monstrosity, aptly demonstrated here by Sheriff Morgan ending a typical police-radio exchange by hesitantly asking the dispatcher what it was like being twenty years dead. The response? An unruffled I-just-work-here.
In this issue, the town kids stick to their plans for a school dance despite the fact that half of them have stranger abilities and possibly more eyes/limbs than they had a few days ago. The kids catch each other up on who turned into what, take advantage of Mom & Dad's panic to swipe beer, and warily decide which faction of powered kids it'll be least fatal to hang out with. My favourite panel is the three boys sitting on the ground beside the school, discussing whether to go in and join the sideshow or walk home. Two seem 'normal' and the third is a bullet-holed ghost, but none of them makes the distinction. It's beautiful.
Alongside these moments, the plot is brewing up fantastically. The Sheriff recruits a deputy, some turf-war battle lines are drawn, the junkyard is a baaaad place to be at night, Dyan the book-opener is up to no good, and zombies are gatecrashing the school dance. Amanda's witchy mentor drops more hints that these grassroots changes are just outriders for something much bigger and badder, and I'm intrigued as to how all these threads will unravel in the next 3 issues.
As ever, Fiona Staples draws the hell out of this stuff. She is phenomenally talented and her light, edgy, bittersweet style is perfect for the book.
