Depending on your timing, and your own reading/browsing habits, you may have already seen my giant-sized Narco deep dive. It was a genuine pleasure to spend an hour or so with co-creators Doug Wagner and Daniel Hillyard as we discussed their camaraderie and partnership; the way they balance the human with the absurd; the connective universe they’ve crafted in books like Vinyl, Plush, and I Was A Fashion School Serial Killer; and so much more.
But if you take nothing else away from that chat, let it be that Narco is unlike anything they’ve done so far, and that’s a very good thing indeed.
Long-time fans of Wagner and Hillyard will certainly see some comparisons with their larger “murder canon.” Visually speaking, Hillyard (alongside colorist Dave Stewart) is exploring that same grounded but slightly stylized world, a place that’s just left of our own in a way that fosters connectivity and still allows the creators certain leeway to play around. Plus, the mere premise — a young man with extreme narcolepsy is accused of murdering his next-door neighbor/crush — has the same kind of weirdness and playfulness as, say, cannibalistic Furries and serial killer with a specific set of morals.
Courtesy of Image Comics.
But Narco takes a lot of those ideas, and the overarching energy, and pushes it forward even further. For one, our lead, Marcus Wesphal, doesn’t have a violent bone in his body, and so unlike Edwin and (especially) Sprout from Klik Klik Boom, he won’t be doing any slaying any time soon. And given how much the duo are obsessed with gore and violence, it’s nice to see them pull back — to play around with the tension and emotionality a little more and let us feel the weight of it all as opposed to knowing our hero can slash their way into a better outcome.
Add in Marcus’ own interest in true crime and conspiracy theories, and that sense of distance (Marcus’ interest but inability to engage the violent or the seedy) really feels like a commentary both on these obsessive “fandoms” and the work of Wagner-Hillyard themselves. It’s a way to explore some over-saturation, perhaps, and allow us to get back to a place where we find more of the humanity in other people’s rooms covered with blood and suffering.
Courtesy of Image Comics.
At the same time, the “rare narcolepsy” in Narco is often just a gimmick. (Or, a clever way in for some folks, but always done with an eye for realism and respectability.) What I think makes Marcus feel really novel in the grand scheme of their books has less to do with his “deficits” and more to do with what he actually has in spades. And that’s friendship and a sense of “community,” people who he feels connected with on a few important levels. Yes, his condition means Marcus is often isolated, but just as he covers door knobs in tennis balls, he’s found ways to make that disconnect sting a little less.
Unlike an Edwin or a Remie, Marcus seemingly has more to lose, and so his troubles feel all that more magnified. He’s not someone seeking to connect, but to instead maintain those bonds in the world, and that shift in the overall dynamic of Narco is what will make things feel even more tense and nerve-wracking.
Courtesy of Image Comics.
Of course, if you’re really going to sell the story of a guy solving a murder even as he routinely passes out, you need the visuals to really hum. And as much as I think Hillyard and Stewart are working in a vein that they’ve long since established, there’s touches and other tidbits that help Narco feel more singular and significant.
Perhaps the biggest component of that is how they treat Marcus’ blackouts. Other books might have opted for a “lights out, lights on” approach, but there’s real effort put into fostering the chaos and uncertainty that happens as we watch Marcus’ very world melt into total blackness. And it’s a hugely effective device: It not only feels realistic (which matters when we’re using something very real like narcolepsy), but there’s opportunities to “play detective” as we decide what clues we can glean as Marcus enters La La Land. In that way, it’s a more active engagement but also a means of dissecting these stories and playing around with our connection/relationship to this genre (and perhaps explain this ongoing “proliferation” of crime stories).
Courtesy of Image Comics.
But I also really like that, in the same way that the creators are focusing more on building tension, they’re also slowing down in other key areas. Namely, there’s a long series where Marcus plays with a possum (as you can see in these previews) — it seems to get a couple pages when, in a lot of other books (including perhaps others from Wagner-Hillyard), it might have only received a quarter of that. And there’s an obvious reason for that decision.
As both creators told me, that approach manages to 1) let them tell the story more incrementally and not focus on the kinetic heft of all that murder and chaos and 2) it tempers some of that innate tension, and that’s a way for the authors to play with us even further and also lend more joy and texture to Marcus’ life. Again, he’s someone who has a lot to lose, and it’s another channel for us to see him as this real, layered person and what happens when he’s truly backed into a corner.
Courtesy of Image Comics.
If you’re a fan of the other books from Wagner and Hillyard, Narco could be an interesting gem. I see some folks disliking the lack of gore and the overt black comedy. (There’s good bits visually speaking, but you definitely don’t get as much overt LOLs as some other titles.) On the other hand, it has a solid blend of what’s new and also the decidedly familiar (i.e., the way they use momentum and interesting angles, like during a “tour” of Marcus’ apartment) to feel truly significant.
If you really want to maximize your chances for success with Narco, come in with an open mind (but a firm understanding of what’s come before); a hankering for a slow-burn mystery (with little blood thus far); and the desire for a story that pokes the heart and mind (and doesn’t just kick you in the guts).
If you can muster that, Narco just might be the right crime story to knock you off your feet.
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