Sweet Tooth Vol. 1: Out of the Woods

by Jeff Lemire

Overview

Following on the heels of The Nobody, his Vertigo graphic novel debut, writer/artist Jeff Lemire pens his very first ongoing series Sweet Tooth. A cross between Bambi and Cormac McCarthy's The Road, Sweet Tooth tells the story of Gus, a rare new breed of human/animal hybrid children, has been raised in isolation following an inexplicable pandemic that struck a decade earlier. Now, with the death of his father he's left to fend for himself . . . until he meets a hulking drifter named Jepperd who promises to help him. Jepperd and Gus set out on a post-apocalyptic journey into the devastated American landscape to find 'The Preserve' a refuge for hybrids.

This unique and haunting new series is written and illustrated by Eisner-nominated creator Lemire (The Essex County Trilogy) and colored by fellow Eisner nominee Jose Villarubia.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781401241506
Publisher:	DC Comics
Publication date:	11/06/2012
Series:	Sweet Tooth Series
Sold by:	DC Comics
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	914,312
File size:	59 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Jeff Lemire is the creator of the acclaimed Essex County Trilogy, the Vertigo graphic novel The Nobody, and is the winner of a Xeric Award and YALSA Alex Award. He is currently the writer for DC Comics' Animal Man, Frankenstein: Agent Of S.H.A.D.E., and Vertigo/DC's Sweet Tooth. He has also previously written the Eisner-nominated Superboy.

Editorial Reviews

The latest entry in the postapocalyptic survivalist fantasy stakes has a peculiar sentimental streak in it. Gus, an almost parodically naïve young boy with antlers sprouting from his forehead and a taste for chocolate, is one of the few children born after some kind of manmade catastrophe. Following the death of his Bible-thumping father, the only other person he's ever known, he's rescued from hunters by a hulking, rifle-toting man called Jepperd, who promises to take him to a sanctuary for kids like him (and slaughters the refugees from Clichéd Dialogue University who get in their way en route). But could Jepperd be more than he seems? (One guess.) Lemire's thick, crunching brush strokes can be rawly expressive; he's got a terrific sense of composition and narrative flow, and the crumbling settings he draws effectively evoke a blasted, forsaken world. Too often, though, his artwork simply comes off as crude. His characters' bodies and features are often distractingly inconsistent from one panel to the next. And Gus's dream vision of a cartoon deer (identified as “Dandy”) telling him to run away, which should be a dramatic peak of this volume, falls flat because Lemire can't pull off his attempted shift away from his baseline style. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 10 Up—Years ago during the Affliction, billions of people died and children were born as human/animal hybrids. Gus, a human/deer hybrid, was raised in isolation for years, but after his father dies hunters come to capture him. He is rescued by a mysterious man who tells him that he will take him to a preserve for hybrid children. While Gus is never sure if he should trust Jepperd, he goes with him because he is lonely. What follows is a voyage through what is left of the country, during which Jepperd gives Gus candy (and the nickname "Sweet Tooth") and fights through all of the obstacles that are in their way, usually with violent methods. While Gus is the protagonist, Jepperd continues to steal the spotlight. Readers know that he has sympathy for Gus and for other characters they meet along the way, and they know that he saves Gus's life multiple times. But they also know that he frequently lies. What isn't clear until the end of the book is just how much he has been lying. Sweet Tooth is often visually stunning and even cinematic. It primarily uses a muted palette that reflects the darkness of this postapocalyptic world, but bright colors burst from the page during moments of violence, and there are quite a few of those in this book. An outstanding choice for most collections.—Andrea Lipinski, New York Public Library

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