ROYAL CITY VOL. 1: NEXT OF KIN by Jeff Lemire

In what seems like a trademark for Lemire, this new series is a pensive, melancholy family drama that examines regret, death, relationships and a reckoning with the past. It follows the Pike family as they deal with the near-death stroke of the family patriarch, while each family member is haunted by the youngest brother Tommy, who drowned in an accident, something the family has never gotten over.

Once again, Lemire is so efficient here in his visual storytelling, that it packs more of a punch in it's 160 pages than many of the prose books I've read this year. It's very cinematic in the way he uses imagery and this juxtaposition of images. The whole graphic novel has a beautiful structure. I love the way each family member interacts with Tommy in a way that they each would prefer to remember him;  in ways that suit their present predicament. In a way, it reminded me a lot of one of my favorite TV shows: the HBO classic Six Feet Under, in it's magical realism and in the way it approached tragedy. So if you enjoyed that show, you will love this one: yet another memorable piece of art by Jeff Lemire, and one of the best graphic novels this year.

GRADE: A