Zuda Comics is the web comics division of DC Comics that went live in October of 2007. They publish a number of comics each month on line and one of the stand outs was released in hard copy.
Bayou is the brain child of Jeremy Love who both writes and draws the comic. Reading this collection reminds me of just how diverse comics really can be. Bayou combines parts of our history from the 1930s of which we should be ashamed, folklore and fanciful story telling. The main character is a little girl named Lee Wagstaff, she lives with her Father, and because they are colored in the south they are not exactly high society. In fact they get called on to do some pretty nasty work for the sheriff, like pulling bodies out of the swamp for $3 a pop.
On one of these excursions Lee has an experience with something in the water and it spooks her to the bone. Not too long after her friend, who happens to be a little white girl goes missing right in front of her, swallowed up by what appears to be a monster.
No one believes her and her Daddy is arrested. To prove him innocent she goes to the swamp, and falls through waht can only be described as a rabbit hole like in Alice in Wonderland.
This is where her adventures begin, starting with meeting a huge man cvreature named Bayou.
The art here is deceptive because it looks like it belongs with a more upbeat happier book. The stroy is sad and at times almost depressing, and tyet also full of wonder and courage and bravery. Lee goes through a transformation and glimpses of the woman she could become shine through, honorable and feisty and loyal, she is a survivor.
This is a great book and I would urge people to read this great work.
You can buy Bayou here
