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Oct 12, 2009 Web Exclusive By Jeremy Nisen

The trade paperback of Paul Pope’s Heavy Liquid collects the five-issue series originally published back when most of us were fretting about the inevitable Y2K meltdown. Since then, the writer/artist has earned wide acclaim for other comics work, such as 100%, and, most recently, his Adam Strange strips in DC’s groundbreaking Wednesday Comics series. He’s even earned mainstream press for his work with fashion labels Diesel and DKNY.

Heavy Liquid is the tale of S (which seemingly stands for “Stooge”), an uncommon criminal obsessed with an uncommon substance called “heavy liquid,” which he’s been lifting from other criminals both to make money and use himself. While others want the rare substance for other purposes (explosive properties for weapons; as an astoundingly expensive medium for sculpture), S is one of the few who have discovered it can be processed into a narcotic. He’s something of an addict.

S’s tale takes place against what starts as a science fiction backdrop, but the sci-fi elements gradually and organically seep into the story, finishing in a kinetic whirlwind of love, drugs, art, government conspiracy, and (spoiler alert!!) alien intelligence. Of a very peculiar sort.

To call Pope’s art “beautiful” is doing it a disservice. His fantastic imagination is given life by his pencils and whips the reader along at breakneck speeds, following encounters with unusual, memorable characters that are thrown with S into some serious hijinx. Heavy Liquid starts strong and steady, but finishes masterfully.

One quibble with Pope’s vision: I had a very hard time with the lettering choices. Not the oversized “s” letters—I got that, and it’s sort of cute. But the font used in the word balloons (the caption font was okay) just did not flow and took me out of it a little bit.

But slight discomfort with lettering choices by no means change the “must read” rating of this amazing, engaging, and stylish work. (www.dccomics.com/vertigo)

Author rating: 8/10