Real Love or Really Weird? "Our Love Is Real" Review + Preview

Greetings kiddies!

Sorry for the gap the last two days here on ComicAddicts but we had some minor difficulties and are now back on track as best I can tell.
This weeks Wayfarer got moved up to Tuesday and on the up-side that means I get to bring you yet another new bit of comic madness today! AND as a bonus we will be having a double-posting today just to make up for leaving you guys hanging the past two days!
Isn't it amazing how things work out?

SO! With the DC relaunch and the Mumbai Comic Con Express and the ComicAddicts MiniCon and all other things now over and done with, I can return to what made you like this little crazy space so much - sheer random comic weirdness!
And I have.
Don't believe me? Check out this cover and tell me what's the first thing that comes to mind? Yes, dog is man's best friend, but does this seem a little OVER-friendly to anyone? Yes? Good because that's kind of the idea!

How real is TOO real?

You see today's choice of comic being reviewed here is one called "Our Love is Real" by writer Sam Humphries (one of Wizard's "Five Writers to Watch in 2011") with Steven Sanders (Uncanny X-Men: The Heroic Age, Five Fists of Science) on art duty.

And yes, since you are wondering on it a lot by now I'm sure, this is about some seriously odd sex and romance - BUT, unlike what you might think, there is no graphic nudity or hentai style tentacle porn happening here. Though I imagine it does happen in the world of the comic itself.

In a nutshell, the comic takes place in a somewhat dystopic future Earth - like most any decent science fiction story - but this one takes things above and beyond all expectations.

We start out being told that a vaccine for the dreaded AIDS virus was finally created and STD's as such are clearly no longer an issue (or at least no one seems to bring them up or care that I can tell). However there is an unexpected development that takes place after this that radically changes not just little things, but some big things along the way. We come in to find that the very nature and essence of human sexuality is now completely in chaos and undefinable.
People can and do have sex with just about EVERYTHING - animal, vegetable, mineral, you name it and there's a group of people who are making out with it!

Our story follows a street cop named Jok who is a canine-lover/ zoosexual and even has a 'girl' at home named Chyna. Yeah its really weird. I know, believe me I've read the whole thing.

But here's the thing: If you can get past the initial oddity of it and not let your mind wander into the "gross" factor (as some might be inclined to think), the book itself is so much more then that. Did anyone know this book was one the surprise hits of this past summer and so much so that Image Comics picked it up and has put it out there for an even LARGER audience to try out? Not only that but its gotten raving reviews from all over the place and honestly, I'm inclined to agree with them.

Page 4 (Click to enlarge!)

See, unlike what one might expect from such a concept instinctively (and usually justificably) this book tries to be far more then just whats on the surface. Broaching serious issues and philosophical and moral questions and all the while remaining essentially a funny comic that reads really fast and has great art, it leaves you at the end though, with a million thoughts and questions and opens trains of thought that rarely get touched upon as it blurs the lines between the conventional social boundaries and systems and ideals. Love, sex, morality and convention and all the lines around and through them become blurred and everything overlaps and just gets in your head.
And let me just say that doing all this and more in the span of just a 24 page one-shot comic is a feat that deserves respect.

The Basic Story:

Page 5 (Click to enlarge!)

Our "hero" is Jok the cop who has a loving 'lady' at home and is man content in life. He can't stand 'vegesexuals' and 'mineral-sexuals' and the like and gets great joy from beating on them and feeling smug in his superiority.
But then during a riot, he meets and falls for a mineral-sexual named Brin who is on love with a crystal named Vor (stay with me here guys!) but Brin hates the idea of love and intimacy with a mammal and all that, while Jok is horrified at his attraction to Brin.
Think about it. A guy is disgusted about being in love/attracted to a fellow human while its perfectly fine to be in love with his dog. Or a vegetable. Or a mineral. Its really odd, but Humphries does not devolve into cheap comedy and such and even a moment where Jok's cop buddies are making fun of him and taunting him about Brin - like little kids at school teasing - is handled with such a straight face that you can't help but laugh and the darker, more satirical element of it all shows through even more sharply.

Page 6 (Click to enlarge!)

The format of the book is square-paged and Sanders does an admirable job utilising his space and medium and brings a lot of emotion and feeling to each and every panel. Filling it with a recognisable enough future, one that fluidly merges the modern world with sci-fi style futuristic elements, the books artwork helps greatly in setting the stage and adding further depth to the characters and plot in an already tight story-space.

All in all a book very much worth reading in my humble opinion - HOWEVER not one meant for people who can't leave judgement and condemnation at the door where they belong and keep an open mind to fiction and story-telling as mediums to raise questions about ourselves and what makes us who and what we are as a species.

I hope honestly that we see more from this strange new future that this talented duo has brought us because the potential and the story-telling really makes you wish there was more the moment you turn over the final page.

Until next week then, cheers all!