Fishtown: Brotherly Love Edition

by Kevin Colden

How far would you go to get what you want?

In Fishtown, life isn't easy. Philadelphia is a big city, but all its problems come alive here, in this place. That's where Justin, Keith, Adrian, and Angelica hang out, and it's where they realize that all they need to be happier is to get some money. So that's what they're gonna do.

Though getting money in Fishtown isn't easy either. But Angelica knows a guy with a job. He's nice, and he likes her, so maybe he can help. And if he doesn't, well, maybe they have a plan for that too...

Inspired by a horrific crime in Philadelphia, Kevin Colden's Xeric Award-winning tale of teenage confusion and rage speaks to the primal depths of the human condition... And if we can ever understand the motives of another.

Genres: Graphic Novels

128 pages, Paperback

Expected publication January 2, 2079

Reviews

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a moderately interesting tale of true crime, as a few unlikeable and unattractive skunkheads kill off a fellow unlikeable and unattractive skunkhead. The story skitters between scenes of "ooh, my parents are horrid to me I must cut myself", them scoring, the build-up to the murder, and the skunkheads' interview scenes, where disembodied police voices interrogate them to work out what actually happened. What went down was a bloody murder, but which one of the friends did the deed – or did they all? Or was it, of course, their under-privileged working class upbringing to blame?

The merits of the book are certainly in the look – it has the colour of aged paper, and a certain very 1970s feel, that run counter to the true crime behind this happening in 2003, but still add a je ne sais quoi to proceedings. The problems perhaps are, to some extent, the disjointed narrative, but primarily the fact that it borrows the 1970s cinematic aesthetic and takes a lot of the drama out of proceedings. It tries to replace this with hippie/hipster coolness, acting as cold as is possible about the violent murder of someone for what was actually a pitifully small amount of cash. Marry that to what are utterly uninteresting characters, and you're left with an uneasy look at the dark side of human nature, with little redemption for either anyone in the narrative or in the audience. That mature side of things (and it's noticeable how much of this could have had sound FX splashed across the page yet doesn't) is what I'll remember from these pages, for it certainly lacks in a standard resolution to please the reader.

[Elia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is pretty disturbing, especially as it is based on real events. The story centers around a group of drug abusing high school burnouts who decide to kill a friend so they can take his paycheck ($500 to be split between all 4 of them) and have enough to buy drugs.
There's a lot here that might need content warning for the more sensitive readers: self harm, drug abuse, physical abuse, and sex. It's bleak, and dark, and definitely not for everyone.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This extremely "graphic" novel has complex, troubled stories interwoven with different perspectives. All of the people are incredibly flawed and often malicious, this is a side of humanity that I hate to see but it is real.