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Channel Zero #1+2
Channel Zero: The Complete Collection
A blistering take on media control in a repressive future America! DMZ and The Massive creator Brian Wood launched an all-out assault on the comics medium in 1997 with Channel Zero, an influential, forward-thinking series that combined art, politics, and graphic design in a unique way. Touching on themes of freedom of expression, hacking, cutting-edge media manipulation, and police†surveillance, it remains as relevant today as it did back then.
The Channel Zero collection contains the original series, the prequel graphic novel Jennie One (illustrated†by Becky Cloonan), the best of the two Public Domain design books, and almost fifteen years of extras, rarities, short stories, and unused art. Also featuring the now-classic Warren Ellis introduction and an all-new cover by Wood, this is the must-have edition. See where it all began!
The Channel Zero collection contains the original series, the prequel graphic novel Jennie One (illustrated†by Becky Cloonan), the best of the two Public Domain design books, and almost fifteen years of extras, rarities, short stories, and unused art. Also featuring the now-classic Warren Ellis introduction and an all-new cover by Wood, this is the must-have edition. See where it all began!
296 pages, Paperback
First published May 30, 2012
14 people are currently reading
174 people want to read
About the author
Brian Wood
1,172 books961 followersBrian Wood's history of published work includes over fifty volumes of genre-spanning original material.
From the 1500-page future war epic DMZ, the ecological disaster series The Massive, the American crime drama Briggs Land, and the groundbreaking lo-fi dystopia Channel Zero he has a 20-year track record of marrying thoughtful world-building and political commentary with compelling and diverse characters.
His YA novels - Demo, Local, The New York Four, and Mara - have made YALSA and New York Public Library best-of lists. His historical fiction - the viking series Northlanders, the American Revolution-centered Rebels, and the norse-samurai mashup Sword Daughter - are benchmarks in the comic book industry.
He's written some of the biggest franchises in pop culture, including Star Wars, Terminator, RoboCop, Conan The Barbarian, Robotech, and Planet Of The Apes. He’s written number-one-selling series for Marvel Comics. And he’s created and written multiple canonical stories for the Aliens universe, including the Zula Hendricks character.
From the 1500-page future war epic DMZ, the ecological disaster series The Massive, the American crime drama Briggs Land, and the groundbreaking lo-fi dystopia Channel Zero he has a 20-year track record of marrying thoughtful world-building and political commentary with compelling and diverse characters.
His YA novels - Demo, Local, The New York Four, and Mara - have made YALSA and New York Public Library best-of lists. His historical fiction - the viking series Northlanders, the American Revolution-centered Rebels, and the norse-samurai mashup Sword Daughter - are benchmarks in the comic book industry.
He's written some of the biggest franchises in pop culture, including Star Wars, Terminator, RoboCop, Conan The Barbarian, Robotech, and Planet Of The Apes. He’s written number-one-selling series for Marvel Comics. And he’s created and written multiple canonical stories for the Aliens universe, including the Zula Hendricks character.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
October 9, 2014
This review was first posted on Northern Plunder, if you want to see more reviews please click here.
I recieved an ARC digital copy of Channel Zero from NetGalley, which I read on my computer, I had no trouble with this but did notice it caused the pages to be slightly pixelated meaning I couldn't appreciate the beauty of the art as much as I normally would when reading a graphic novel, but also the smaller text was harder to read, even with these negative parts which have nothing to do with the author or illustrator I feel I should mention them because even with these faults I have still rated it highly which illustrates just how much I enjoyed it, I have also actually got it on pre-order so I can drool over the art some more and let my boyfriend read it too as he is a sucker for Dark Horse books. Now time for my actual review part.
From the very first page this hits me as a very "V for Vendatta"-esque piece of work but also a very important because it is essentially that something could happen, or even is in the process of happening. It is set in America where they have recently passed the "Clean Act" which basically means the government has complete control over the media, nothing is show or told to the populations without the governments say so, and what is told is most likely manipulated to help the people feel safe whilst outside of America pretty much anything and everything could be happening and the American citizens wouldn't know a thing or recognise the outside world if they were to leave. I think on of the main reason I took to this book so well is because I love the storyline, but also because the main character Jennie 2.5 is so lovable and is very much an outcast as she appears to be the only person in the whole of America who can see how wrong their lives are and is fighting to regain to control for the public and I totally dig the underdogs. Not to mention she has the most rad tattoo's I've ever seen and style. What I also loved about this book was after the story had finished it included the development of the authors art and progress and development ideas that led him to this final outcome, which is something often included within graphic novels but the reason I loved it for this specific one is that you learn that Brian Wood actualyl created this for a school assignment! After Channel Zero has come to and end there is also a short story titled Jennie One which a different illustrator did the art for and I loved this section too, but again it included Becky's development stages in how she progressed from an manga based art style to something so much more. I loved this book throughout, every page has been deeply engraved in my mind and I can not wait to get my hands on my physically copy to read it again. Hey I may even pop back and let you know what my boyfriend thought too!
Recommend: If graphic novels are your thing, totally. I loved it.
I recieved an ARC digital copy of Channel Zero from NetGalley, which I read on my computer, I had no trouble with this but did notice it caused the pages to be slightly pixelated meaning I couldn't appreciate the beauty of the art as much as I normally would when reading a graphic novel, but also the smaller text was harder to read, even with these negative parts which have nothing to do with the author or illustrator I feel I should mention them because even with these faults I have still rated it highly which illustrates just how much I enjoyed it, I have also actually got it on pre-order so I can drool over the art some more and let my boyfriend read it too as he is a sucker for Dark Horse books. Now time for my actual review part.
From the very first page this hits me as a very "V for Vendatta"-esque piece of work but also a very important because it is essentially that something could happen, or even is in the process of happening. It is set in America where they have recently passed the "Clean Act" which basically means the government has complete control over the media, nothing is show or told to the populations without the governments say so, and what is told is most likely manipulated to help the people feel safe whilst outside of America pretty much anything and everything could be happening and the American citizens wouldn't know a thing or recognise the outside world if they were to leave. I think on of the main reason I took to this book so well is because I love the storyline, but also because the main character Jennie 2.5 is so lovable and is very much an outcast as she appears to be the only person in the whole of America who can see how wrong their lives are and is fighting to regain to control for the public and I totally dig the underdogs. Not to mention she has the most rad tattoo's I've ever seen and style. What I also loved about this book was after the story had finished it included the development of the authors art and progress and development ideas that led him to this final outcome, which is something often included within graphic novels but the reason I loved it for this specific one is that you learn that Brian Wood actualyl created this for a school assignment! After Channel Zero has come to and end there is also a short story titled Jennie One which a different illustrator did the art for and I loved this section too, but again it included Becky's development stages in how she progressed from an manga based art style to something so much more. I loved this book throughout, every page has been deeply engraved in my mind and I can not wait to get my hands on my physically copy to read it again. Hey I may even pop back and let you know what my boyfriend thought too!
Recommend: If graphic novels are your thing, totally. I loved it.
August 17, 2013
This was born as a self-publishing project while Brian Wood was still in art school, and it shows. Even more, it shows that it was very much of a work of the 90s. The heavy black ink sketchy style, people heavily tattooed with barcodes and "tribal" ink, in sk8r wear and gasmasks in a sort of hacker-grunge aesthetic will be familiar to anyone who was reading 2600 and Wired back in the early days of the Internet.
It's full of raw energy and a lot of anger which bleeds from the pages. I'm not familiar with Wood's other work, but for a beginning artist's first professional effort, I can see how he went on to become more well-known.
The story itself is fairly weak, not surprising since Wood's ambition was to be an artist, and as he says in the endnotes, he just didn't have a writer to collaborate with. Channel Zero is basically late-20th-century America through a dystopian lens. Set in New York City, it casts then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani by name as a dictator vowing to "clean up" the city by any means necessary, a movement that is echoed by the President nationwide.
Basically, take the real-world Giuliani's famous/infamous "quality of life" campaign and turn it into what his worst and most paranoid enemies characterized it as, then make that an Orwellian caricature. The "Clean Act" essentially outlaws dissent or social nonconformity, and NYC literally has "Cleaners" as an adjunct to the police department, going around summarily executing anyone found littering, vandalizing, tagging with graffiti, etc.
Into this world comes "Jennie 2.5.," a young hacker activist who breaks into the airwaves to broadcast subversive messages and wake-up calls.
There isn't much dialog or plot beyond the above; it's the sort of graphic novel where the art, particularly the heavy black and white style of it, tells the story. Entire pages without words or sound effects of demonstrators fighting against police in riot gear, helicopters blowing people away, etc. Jennie's words, and a later interview, are the sort of "Down with the Man!" revolutionary cant that sounds very deep and powerful to your average Berkeley freshman. (I can say that, because I was a Berkeley freshman.)
This collection includes a prequel story, "Jennie 1.0," in which Wood had another young student/artist, Becky Cloonan, illustrate the story of Jennie's radicalization. Surprise, she was an art student who suddenly woke up to how, like, the whole world is phony and oppressive and politics is bullshit, man, and the cops are pigs!
I am mocking the message a little, but I don't really disagree in principle with its ideals, though as with the Occupy movement, I can't help thinking the delivery is skewed too much to be useful.
Obviously it is a story that will resonate with people, especially after 9/11, an era which Channel Zero slightly preceded, but still could be said to have been affected by, particularly the one-shots and prequel published later.
But it's basically an art student's angry political screed in dystopian comic book form, before the art student went on to draw superheroes. Worth reading if you like the style, or would like a nostalgic flashback to 1997 and 3.5" floppy disks.
It's full of raw energy and a lot of anger which bleeds from the pages. I'm not familiar with Wood's other work, but for a beginning artist's first professional effort, I can see how he went on to become more well-known.
The story itself is fairly weak, not surprising since Wood's ambition was to be an artist, and as he says in the endnotes, he just didn't have a writer to collaborate with. Channel Zero is basically late-20th-century America through a dystopian lens. Set in New York City, it casts then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani by name as a dictator vowing to "clean up" the city by any means necessary, a movement that is echoed by the President nationwide.
Basically, take the real-world Giuliani's famous/infamous "quality of life" campaign and turn it into what his worst and most paranoid enemies characterized it as, then make that an Orwellian caricature. The "Clean Act" essentially outlaws dissent or social nonconformity, and NYC literally has "Cleaners" as an adjunct to the police department, going around summarily executing anyone found littering, vandalizing, tagging with graffiti, etc.
Into this world comes "Jennie 2.5.," a young hacker activist who breaks into the airwaves to broadcast subversive messages and wake-up calls.
There isn't much dialog or plot beyond the above; it's the sort of graphic novel where the art, particularly the heavy black and white style of it, tells the story. Entire pages without words or sound effects of demonstrators fighting against police in riot gear, helicopters blowing people away, etc. Jennie's words, and a later interview, are the sort of "Down with the Man!" revolutionary cant that sounds very deep and powerful to your average Berkeley freshman. (I can say that, because I was a Berkeley freshman.)
This collection includes a prequel story, "Jennie 1.0," in which Wood had another young student/artist, Becky Cloonan, illustrate the story of Jennie's radicalization. Surprise, she was an art student who suddenly woke up to how, like, the whole world is phony and oppressive and politics is bullshit, man, and the cops are pigs!
I am mocking the message a little, but I don't really disagree in principle with its ideals, though as with the Occupy movement, I can't help thinking the delivery is skewed too much to be useful.
Obviously it is a story that will resonate with people, especially after 9/11, an era which Channel Zero slightly preceded, but still could be said to have been affected by, particularly the one-shots and prequel published later.
But it's basically an art student's angry political screed in dystopian comic book form, before the art student went on to draw superheroes. Worth reading if you like the style, or would like a nostalgic flashback to 1997 and 3.5" floppy disks.
July 29, 2019
The black and white minimalist artwork stands out in this comic. It's pretty chill, with few moments of action. It does a good job of suggesting that the general population has been effectively subdued by the government. Whoever opposes is quickly stamped out. How it took just one act to bring about a communist, isolationist and religiously zealous US is truly chilling. Each issue is a different story that features anti-government activists. While the rebels are still shown as being active, it's not clear whether the regime is ever going to be toppled.
The Clean Act was forced upon the government by all the groups that wanted there to be a strict control of the media, the establishment of religious cults and, inevitably, the isolationism of the US after being declared the promised land. The result was a censored media and oppression worthy of a communist nation.
The narrator in the first story hoped to be a journalist before the act passed, but instead had to settle for being a censor. She is writing her memoirs about those times, hoping to sell it when the act is abolished. Until then she builds a system to hack into the TV channels and transmit a message of revolution.
Jennie 2.5 was a rebel broadcaster from a while back. She got to be very popular, but the popularity itself diluted her message. When she tried to make a more serious move on the government, she got caught. It didn't take much effort from the government to have her time as the voice of freedom dismissed by the general public.
A cleaner is similar to a cop in most aspects. If you ignore the killing. The story of a cleaner told from her perspective is a tragic one, but not one to get her to quit. She fights on, partly because of the law and partly because of her brainwashing.
After Jennie 2.5 was arrested, tried and exiled from US soil, she travelled the world. She earned allies in many countries and spread awareness about the oppressive US regime. Despite her exile she returns to the US and realizes two things: that her message was not wasted on the new generation of youths and that she is too old to be a revolutionary any more. She decides to leave the revolution to the new kids.
Jenny 2.5 recounts the riots when the Clean Act was passed. She began by not caring about them, but soon became an active opponent of the new regime. The Act was followed by a violent response from the police and the army. Jenny embraced the rebel movement and dropped out of school, though this sat badly with her mother and it meant that she had to leave her former life behind.
The Clean Act was forced upon the government by all the groups that wanted there to be a strict control of the media, the establishment of religious cults and, inevitably, the isolationism of the US after being declared the promised land. The result was a censored media and oppression worthy of a communist nation.
The narrator in the first story hoped to be a journalist before the act passed, but instead had to settle for being a censor. She is writing her memoirs about those times, hoping to sell it when the act is abolished. Until then she builds a system to hack into the TV channels and transmit a message of revolution.
Jennie 2.5 was a rebel broadcaster from a while back. She got to be very popular, but the popularity itself diluted her message. When she tried to make a more serious move on the government, she got caught. It didn't take much effort from the government to have her time as the voice of freedom dismissed by the general public.
A cleaner is similar to a cop in most aspects. If you ignore the killing. The story of a cleaner told from her perspective is a tragic one, but not one to get her to quit. She fights on, partly because of the law and partly because of her brainwashing.
After Jennie 2.5 was arrested, tried and exiled from US soil, she travelled the world. She earned allies in many countries and spread awareness about the oppressive US regime. Despite her exile she returns to the US and realizes two things: that her message was not wasted on the new generation of youths and that she is too old to be a revolutionary any more. She decides to leave the revolution to the new kids.
Jenny 2.5 recounts the riots when the Clean Act was passed. She began by not caring about them, but soon became an active opponent of the new regime. The Act was followed by a violent response from the police and the army. Jenny embraced the rebel movement and dropped out of school, though this sat badly with her mother and it meant that she had to leave her former life behind.
August 9, 2013
First off, Ellis delivers an amazing intro. Quotable even. I don't think I've ever quoted an intro before, but here's a juicy taste-
"...and all of a sudden, world cultures become the Monoculture, the same conversation, the same clothes, the same show." "And, all over the world, one by one, we quit fighting it." "...and he makes those people move the way they should. He makes them talk about revolution. He makes them spark and snarl and scheme and scream the way pop culture icons are supposed to. They rant and rail against the dying light the way people should." "The longer Channel Zero runs, the purer it becomes. It grows dominated by symbols, huge dark images of a beaten world filled by a beaten generation, the place that, like Ginsberg howled, saw it's best minds destroyed."
"It's about learning how to give a shit again, about finding ways to make things better. It's about anger as a positive force of creation. It's about your right to not have to live in the world they've built for you."
So powerful right there.
Secondly, only because introductions always precede the story, Wood's Channel Zero is like Transmet's baby. It was short and full of anger and desperate to try and change the system. It was also disjointed (especially in the stories around Jeannie's successors), sometimes making me confused, feeling not like it was poorly written but more like I'm only getting part of the story on purpose. Like, it's not about an actual revolution but it's about the revolution that could happen and is just starting to take place. Jeannie 2.5 was an icon and not at the same time. I love the whole concept and it was a great read to rile up the blood.
The text layout was also fairly unique, especially with the radio broadcasts.
Some great ad slogans too, as part of the resistance. My favorites:
"You're mind is a weapon. USE IT."
"The Media is a Virus"
"...and all of a sudden, world cultures become the Monoculture, the same conversation, the same clothes, the same show." "And, all over the world, one by one, we quit fighting it." "...and he makes those people move the way they should. He makes them talk about revolution. He makes them spark and snarl and scheme and scream the way pop culture icons are supposed to. They rant and rail against the dying light the way people should." "The longer Channel Zero runs, the purer it becomes. It grows dominated by symbols, huge dark images of a beaten world filled by a beaten generation, the place that, like Ginsberg howled, saw it's best minds destroyed."
"It's about learning how to give a shit again, about finding ways to make things better. It's about anger as a positive force of creation. It's about your right to not have to live in the world they've built for you."
So powerful right there.
Secondly, only because introductions always precede the story, Wood's Channel Zero is like Transmet's baby. It was short and full of anger and desperate to try and change the system. It was also disjointed (especially in the stories around Jeannie's successors), sometimes making me confused, feeling not like it was poorly written but more like I'm only getting part of the story on purpose. Like, it's not about an actual revolution but it's about the revolution that could happen and is just starting to take place. Jeannie 2.5 was an icon and not at the same time. I love the whole concept and it was a great read to rile up the blood.
The text layout was also fairly unique, especially with the radio broadcasts.
Some great ad slogans too, as part of the resistance. My favorites:
"You're mind is a weapon. USE IT."
"The Media is a Virus"
March 21, 2024
This isn’t as polished as you might expect but it was better than I’d expected from a debut amateur effort, too. It’s also actually post-cyberpunk, in that it neatly demonstrates how mainstream culture co-opts everything dissimilar from it, diffusing it.
When the U.S. passes a bill that places all information in its borders as censored by the government, a would be revolutionist attempts to wake up some of the population with pirate broadcasts.
The art style looks like old zines and fits the subject matter well, but it also doesn’t do all that much work. Similarly, the plot gets the job done, but just barely. Some things are retread upon. It’s very simple. But it is certainly still relevant to now and situates in the cyberpunk canon very nicely, since what happens in it is, essentially, what happened to the movement itself. Thankfully, since people contribute to the genre it never by any stretch died, though. Only the movement itself did. What goes on similarly parallels this story.
It is also really short. A full third of this is bonus materials, so heads up there.
3.5 rounded up because of the positives.
When the U.S. passes a bill that places all information in its borders as censored by the government, a would be revolutionist attempts to wake up some of the population with pirate broadcasts.
The art style looks like old zines and fits the subject matter well, but it also doesn’t do all that much work. Similarly, the plot gets the job done, but just barely. Some things are retread upon. It’s very simple. But it is certainly still relevant to now and situates in the cyberpunk canon very nicely, since what happens in it is, essentially, what happened to the movement itself. Thankfully, since people contribute to the genre it never by any stretch died, though. Only the movement itself did. What goes on similarly parallels this story.
It is also really short. A full third of this is bonus materials, so heads up there.
3.5 rounded up because of the positives.
July 4, 2012
It's sometime in the not so distant future and the government of the Unites States has decided to "protect" its citizens by taking complete and total control over all media. Absolutely everything in print, on TV and online is censored to reflect the country's good, clean, Christian values. Also, the country is getting ready to bomb the absolute living crap out of Mexico.
Along comes Jenny 2.5, a lone hacker who is somehow able to bust into heavily guarded secure frequencies and broadcast snippets of revolutionary propaganda. She thinks she's helping over throw the government - the government thinks she's ratings gold - and the people she's trying to reach think she's super cool and they all want to look and dress just like her.
Now, I really don't know why, because thematically they don't have much in common, but the entire time I was reading this I kept thinking how much it reminded me of the anime "Serial Experiments Lain." Maybe it's because, like Lain, Channel Zero gives the reader a sense of static noise and the feeling that everything is happening in quick jump-cuts. The black and white artwork adds to this feeling - the feeling that you are watching something on an old TV that doesn't get very good reception and there is a lot more "snow" than picture. Instead of detracting from the story, to me, this feeling actually went perfectly with the bleak themes presented here.
Along comes Jenny 2.5, a lone hacker who is somehow able to bust into heavily guarded secure frequencies and broadcast snippets of revolutionary propaganda. She thinks she's helping over throw the government - the government thinks she's ratings gold - and the people she's trying to reach think she's super cool and they all want to look and dress just like her.
Now, I really don't know why, because thematically they don't have much in common, but the entire time I was reading this I kept thinking how much it reminded me of the anime "Serial Experiments Lain." Maybe it's because, like Lain, Channel Zero gives the reader a sense of static noise and the feeling that everything is happening in quick jump-cuts. The black and white artwork adds to this feeling - the feeling that you are watching something on an old TV that doesn't get very good reception and there is a lot more "snow" than picture. Instead of detracting from the story, to me, this feeling actually went perfectly with the bleak themes presented here.
December 21, 2014
I would say this is kind of like V for Vendetta. Just not as good. The artwork was pretty cool, reminded me of sin city (Black and white). In one way the story was good, but too anti-Christian for me, personally. It paints Christians as hate filled as a whole. Which, I get biased censorship, etc.. is bad. But I'm not a fan of how the whole story played out, nor how Christians were portrayed.
June 29, 2017
A well done black & white comic that paints a dystopian near-future that is not too far off reality, which is scary.
March 24, 2018
Interesting idea, but poor execution. Nothing really happens.
December 31, 2017
Channel Zero is Brian Wood's (pre-9/11) Leftist fantasy porn in graphic novel format. An evil right-wing (dare I say Evil Empire?) faction of the government has gained power and taken over. Thankfully, a disorganized (emergent) and equally disheveled gang of well dressed rebellious youths (decked out in the latest Anarchist threads) fight the system with complaints, sabotage, theft, and good ol' fashioned graffiti.
The half-baked story is as undercooked as the art that manifests it. Ranging from horribly turgid depictions that thinly border on claustrophobia, to relatively spacious single pages with enormous unused fields of white with little but paper-thin thin bands to demarcate the horizon line(s), the art style is flawed to say the least. Relatively life-like depictions are splattered against more wistful approaches that make for a somewhat schizophrenic assault on the eyes. Keep it mind that this is all in black in white, so the flaws (and successes) are probably more stark in comparison than they seem.
The art is puerile and so is the story that underlays it. In true Leftie fashion, the archetypical (hackneyed) Religious Right is the progenitor of this American time of troubles. The Police-state eponymously employed police officers are invariably depicted beating up rioting/defacing youths. Instead of abusing their power, it would seem that the officers of justice are actually the good guys here.
Wait what?
Just as baffling as the moral positions of the author, so too are the no-so-subtle Leftist apologia (sometimes downright hagiographic) of our good friend Che Guevera. The (in)famous facade of the Cuban butcher/human rights abuser is saintly presented alongside a defense (exoneration?) of Mao Zedong! Really!
Yeah, tell that to all those victims. : (
Irregardless of ideology and the faults, artistic or otherwise of this graphic novel, I did enjoy reading it. Just as the author admits in the outro, not only was it his first work but, "is-was-a relic from the past." It's really cool to not just see artists grow and change but, to see/enjoy their works as reflections of their historical/social context. As a "direction reaction to Rudy Guliani's rule of New York City ... [the author] was young, poor, and pissed off," his feelings really add a genuine layer of human depth and experience help flesh out the story.
In either case its definitely worth a read. Definitely not a rereead but, this reprint replete with afterwords, un/used sketches and most importantly a slew of short stories (that I actually enjoyed a lot more than the story proper itself) really add alot to the adventure that is Channel Zero.
The half-baked story is as undercooked as the art that manifests it. Ranging from horribly turgid depictions that thinly border on claustrophobia, to relatively spacious single pages with enormous unused fields of white with little but paper-thin thin bands to demarcate the horizon line(s), the art style is flawed to say the least. Relatively life-like depictions are splattered against more wistful approaches that make for a somewhat schizophrenic assault on the eyes. Keep it mind that this is all in black in white, so the flaws (and successes) are probably more stark in comparison than they seem.
The art is puerile and so is the story that underlays it. In true Leftie fashion, the archetypical (hackneyed) Religious Right is the progenitor of this American time of troubles. The Police-state eponymously employed police officers are invariably depicted beating up rioting/defacing youths. Instead of abusing their power, it would seem that the officers of justice are actually the good guys here.
Wait what?
Just as baffling as the moral positions of the author, so too are the no-so-subtle Leftist apologia (sometimes downright hagiographic) of our good friend Che Guevera. The (in)famous facade of the Cuban butcher/human rights abuser is saintly presented alongside a defense (exoneration?) of Mao Zedong! Really!
Yeah, tell that to all those victims. : (
Irregardless of ideology and the faults, artistic or otherwise of this graphic novel, I did enjoy reading it. Just as the author admits in the outro, not only was it his first work but, "is-was-a relic from the past." It's really cool to not just see artists grow and change but, to see/enjoy their works as reflections of their historical/social context. As a "direction reaction to Rudy Guliani's rule of New York City ... [the author] was young, poor, and pissed off," his feelings really add a genuine layer of human depth and experience help flesh out the story.
In either case its definitely worth a read. Definitely not a rereead but, this reprint replete with afterwords, un/used sketches and most importantly a slew of short stories (that I actually enjoyed a lot more than the story proper itself) really add alot to the adventure that is Channel Zero.
January 20, 2019
I can't believe that I missed this Brian Wood book first time around. Its a great graphic novel with a Sin City feel to the artwork but the story is somewhat dystopian. This is set in a near future America where the Clean Act has been passed and that means that you have a Police State where you have to be a good christian citizen and follow the rules where all the media is state run and where you don't have the power to challenge that media unless you go underground like Jennie does.
This predates the world of Facebook and in a sense the Internet is at it very young age here and theres isn't any precient predictions that weave in the worlds of social media however the sloganeering does have some synergies with the world we find ourselves in.
Brain Wood has great ideas and the Becky Cloonan prequel in the set as well is great. This is a 5 star read for me but heavily stylised in art terms. Stick with it, its rewarding and its as others have said a hard slap in the face of the Big Brother generation.
This predates the world of Facebook and in a sense the Internet is at it very young age here and theres isn't any precient predictions that weave in the worlds of social media however the sloganeering does have some synergies with the world we find ourselves in.
Brain Wood has great ideas and the Becky Cloonan prequel in the set as well is great. This is a 5 star read for me but heavily stylised in art terms. Stick with it, its rewarding and its as others have said a hard slap in the face of the Big Brother generation.
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July 15, 2020Brian Wood’s first comic, a cyberpunk commentary on Rudy Giuliani’s mid-90’s policies as New York City Mayor. We follow hacker Jennie 2.5 who, through an illegal television network, urges people to fight back against NYC’s brutal new theocracy. Yes, there are parallels to today - I was particularly reminded of Edward Snowden. But as with Demo, the only other Wood comic I’ve read, I love the art but don’t connect with the story. That’s probably because there’s very little story here, just brief sketches and focus on world-building. Channel Zero is more of a media experiment than full-on narrative. That experimentation is where it shines: Wood’s art is very original, with in-story ads, stark black-and-white cityscapes, and lots of closeups. I really like the grimy, lo-fi look of this comic, both in the main series and the Becky Cloonan-drawn sequel. It’s a shame the story is so minimal, because the aesthetic is so cool. I think Wood just isn’t my my type of writer.
December 30, 2021
This is an fantastic comic. It was about a lone, tattooed, hacker woman named Jennie 2.5 who is hacker and logged into a TV company to beg everyone to fight back their totalitarian government, and subsequently she is starting a revolution. Brian Wood has an impressive drawing style, although I found this main character a bit cliched: hackers don't really come like her with all of her tattoos, even though they looks really cool... they are usually nerds and geeks. But, given when it was written, in the late 90's, that misunderstanding can be forgiven. It was also hard to follow what was going on in her actions on the panels, because it was randomly input with news messages randomly. I get was Wood was doing, but it was hard to follow. Overall it was an excellent piece of comic book!
November 18, 2019
Incredible 90s dystopian worldbuilding
Meh meh execution with no real story or character development.
Read it as an angry art experiment from a passionate student rather than a comic storyline with cohesive plot and character arcs.
The drawing style is a thick, black and white-ish amateur Frank Miller with lots of photographed items (ads, weapons) thrown into the mix.
This is one of the rare works where I enjoy reading the post-it notes and afterhoughts more than the actual comic. Still, if you're open to more indie experimental work and you love dystopian city-state narratives, this is still an interesting and inspiring read, especially if you're a creator.
Meh meh execution with no real story or character development.
Read it as an angry art experiment from a passionate student rather than a comic storyline with cohesive plot and character arcs.
The drawing style is a thick, black and white-ish amateur Frank Miller with lots of photographed items (ads, weapons) thrown into the mix.
This is one of the rare works where I enjoy reading the post-it notes and afterhoughts more than the actual comic. Still, if you're open to more indie experimental work and you love dystopian city-state narratives, this is still an interesting and inspiring read, especially if you're a creator.
April 15, 2020
4.5 Stars
Wow, this really blew me away. I loved that it was an all in one edition, loved the art style and the story too. It was a perfect mix for me.
After reading the notes on the creative process (which I loved that it was included), I realized that it was created at the exact same time I was at art school which was really cool. It's also wild to read cyberpunk now, to see what did happen (and if we reacted as predicted), what didn't happen and what still may happen. Very engaging work that I would love to re-read. A big win.
Wow, this really blew me away. I loved that it was an all in one edition, loved the art style and the story too. It was a perfect mix for me.
After reading the notes on the creative process (which I loved that it was included), I realized that it was created at the exact same time I was at art school which was really cool. It's also wild to read cyberpunk now, to see what did happen (and if we reacted as predicted), what didn't happen and what still may happen. Very engaging work that I would love to re-read. A big win.
June 22, 2020
Channel Zero is a dystopian cyberpunk stream of consciousness story about an America ruled by a repressive Christian media dictatorship and the artistic hacker resistance fighting against them. Although the story is more than a decade old, the struggle is thought-provoking and parallels much of what we're facing today in the world of deepfakes, partisan media, and police brutality. Anyone looking for a comic that holds up a mirror to conservative television will enjoy this book. Anyone looking for an escape from the news shouldn't switch to Channel Zero.
February 17, 2021
This book (especially the main story) is anarchy. Matched to todays standards the content of the story is a bit to black and white. But living in a 1st world country wich has a lockdown and eveningclock, while politicians and so called freedomfighters are claiming to be right Channel Zero still makes you think. Altough just like the politicians and freedomfighters in my country it misses the grey parts that builds a society.
December 26, 2019
Striking artwork combined with a story that is still relevant more than 20 years after it was conceived. Powerful stuff about oppression, complicity, and 'Murica (spoiler alert - not a pretty picture about 'Murica).
February 16, 2020
although in some ways dated the themes are timeless and could have been written now. I like the evolution of the drawing style. Like most books that I like I will be coming back to the thoughts and themes and images from this book for a while
May 21, 2020
This took me by surprise. In a way it is its own thing, a unique work. But it also similar to other works in terms of the idea and the art. The idea is similar to V for Vendetta and other similar dystopian comics. The art and design reminded me of Sin City.
September 24, 2018
Reading Black Road had me really excited to read more from Brian Wood. Channel Zero did not live up to my expectations though.
July 29, 2020
This book is probably more true today than when it was written. Highly recommended.
January 4, 2021
Meh. Good idea but story is lacking. I dig the art though.
October 5, 2021
Wood’s first published work is a little one-dimensional and rough around the edges, but the passion and spirit of execution are a clear indicator of where he was heading. A great read.
January 27, 2017
an artistic tour de force.
April 1, 2024
In the vein of Neuromancer and Moxyland, Channel Zero attempts to build a world of youth counter-culture hacking away at dystopian information systems. Except it falls flat. Hard. It tried to jump from building to building to try and get away from The Man, hoping that its relativity to real life issues would break its fall. Instead it crunched into two halves upon impact that felt more like two movie trailers than any kind of cohesive story.
I liked Jennie 2.5 and understand that she's supposed to be an enigmatic antihero, whose followers don't always know why they follow her. That grey area was pretty interesting, but lasted for maybe two panels. The rest of the comic is a disjointed, two part story that starts with her career and ends with her origin. I enjoyed that she reached cult status by telling the truth and getting kicked out of art school for being a whippersnapper. I was compelled to see what would happen next after her rebellious phase, but then it just kinda ends and the book is fleshed out with a bunch of extras. You gain no perspective on her as a character other than that she's counterculture.
And furthermore, there were panels in the first half that introduced new characters and explained what they did, but they didn't actually do anything in what little of the world was created. The comic just expresses over and over and over again that the media is bad and lies to you. It was repetitive to the point of being condescending, on top of the fact that you're just given information about Jennie and her small army, hardly ANY of which is expressed in scene. But its info over a background of Che. Get it cause its like real life.
I understand that this was Wood's sophomoric art project in college, some of which was an assignment that he admits is flawed. But I can't help but wonder how much better it could have been if it wasn't just muddy and confusing setpiece drawings and heavy handed information I already knew about distrusting American censorship. This feels like an outline not a complete work. It’s a premise of Jennie building an army to stop the Clean Act, and that’s pretty much it. But you don’t see the world or the army and honestly nothing happens.
I liked Jennie 2.5 and understand that she's supposed to be an enigmatic antihero, whose followers don't always know why they follow her. That grey area was pretty interesting, but lasted for maybe two panels. The rest of the comic is a disjointed, two part story that starts with her career and ends with her origin. I enjoyed that she reached cult status by telling the truth and getting kicked out of art school for being a whippersnapper. I was compelled to see what would happen next after her rebellious phase, but then it just kinda ends and the book is fleshed out with a bunch of extras. You gain no perspective on her as a character other than that she's counterculture.
And furthermore, there were panels in the first half that introduced new characters and explained what they did, but they didn't actually do anything in what little of the world was created. The comic just expresses over and over and over again that the media is bad and lies to you. It was repetitive to the point of being condescending, on top of the fact that you're just given information about Jennie and her small army, hardly ANY of which is expressed in scene. But its info over a background of Che. Get it cause its like real life.
I understand that this was Wood's sophomoric art project in college, some of which was an assignment that he admits is flawed. But I can't help but wonder how much better it could have been if it wasn't just muddy and confusing setpiece drawings and heavy handed information I already knew about distrusting American censorship. This feels like an outline not a complete work. It’s a premise of Jennie building an army to stop the Clean Act, and that’s pretty much it. But you don’t see the world or the army and honestly nothing happens.
January 29, 2013
Channel Zero is a very early work by Brian Wood (of DMZ fame). How I managed to read two books in a row regarding pirate media (I just read Cory Doctorow's excellent "Pirate Cinema") is beyond me, but I regret nothing. This graphic novel was written in the '90's, but still feels fresh and relevant today. Perhaps even more so. In the world of Channel Zero, the US has passed "The Clean Bill", which restricts all media to that which is deemed "appropriate" by the US government. Everything is censored and filtered through approved outlets, which means that the American public is not only denied perspective, they are denied their first amendment rights. Jennie 2.5 is pissed off. She's mad enough to commandeer the equipment and security necessary to interrupt state-sponsored broadcasts with her own incendiary pirate broadcasts. She quickly becomes a cult hero to the people and the state's biggest enemy.
Stylistically, this is one of the more original graphic novels I've come across. The solid black and white makes for a jarring and stark narrative. Jennie's story is interspersed with government propaganda and bios of her successors. The story is not entirely linear, but it works in this context. It also makes me want to go finish reading the rest of DMZ. I swear Brian Wood might just be a touch psychic and I feel as though I ought to be prepared.
Stylistically, this is one of the more original graphic novels I've come across. The solid black and white makes for a jarring and stark narrative. Jennie's story is interspersed with government propaganda and bios of her successors. The story is not entirely linear, but it works in this context. It also makes me want to go finish reading the rest of DMZ. I swear Brian Wood might just be a touch psychic and I feel as though I ought to be prepared.
February 24, 2013
It's easy to get tired of fiction, and especially comics, that do the 'police state' thing. But here's the thing about even saturated genres; someone has to be the best at it.
Channel Zero is fantastic. Its art, by both Wood and Becky Cloonan is intense and absolutely integral to the story more than in many comics, where perhaps the story could be novelised and not lose a great deal by the cutting of the art element.
This complete collection in particular is brilliant - the extra material is extensive and Brian Wood's explanation of his process, the evolution of Channel Zero from art school project to publication, and how the book shaped his creative identity afterwards is compelling.
A renegade of a book.
Pick. This. Up.
Channel Zero is fantastic. Its art, by both Wood and Becky Cloonan is intense and absolutely integral to the story more than in many comics, where perhaps the story could be novelised and not lose a great deal by the cutting of the art element.
This complete collection in particular is brilliant - the extra material is extensive and Brian Wood's explanation of his process, the evolution of Channel Zero from art school project to publication, and how the book shaped his creative identity afterwards is compelling.
A renegade of a book.
Pick. This. Up.
May 30, 2013
A paean against the surveillance state in the vein of The Handmaiden's Tale or V for Vendetta. Imagines that in the cause of "security," the state will unleash a surveillance society and a morality campaign and regular people will suffer under the boot of oppression.
The art has a sketchy, scattered quality to it that works well, but it definitely yields the force of the narrative to the written text being superimposed on it. There are whole swaths in the middle of the narrative where the imagery adds very little to the story.
Fight the power, man.
The art has a sketchy, scattered quality to it that works well, but it definitely yields the force of the narrative to the written text being superimposed on it. There are whole swaths in the middle of the narrative where the imagery adds very little to the story.
Fight the power, man.
May 19, 2013
For Wood's first work, Channel Zero is incredibly impressive. Everything about it blatantly ignores the rules of comic composition, but the art remains challenging and emotionally provocative. The story kind of meanders, there are not many characters, and it's clear that the work is a sort of incomplete thought that spawned many more of Wood's later works, but for all that, it is a worthwhile read. It's still relevant conceptually, and the minimalist, Frank-Miller-esque art shines.
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