“You know, there are only two ways to be completely alone in this world: lost in a crowd, or in total isolation.” – Jeff Lemire, Essex County, Vol. 2: Ghost Stories
There is a pervasive sense of loneliness in the works of Jeff Lemire. Whether it is an aging superhero or a small-town vista, the characters he writes carry on their shoulders the weight of their lives, as well as the lives they never got to live. I find this beautiful, yet terribly haunting – and maybe that’s why I enjoy his works so much!
He was born in 1976 in Essex County, Ontario (yes, that Essex County), and pursued a career in filmmaking. He abandoned that calling after realizing that making comic books is a more solitary endeavor – and if that doesn’t rocket him to the top of your list of favorite comics writers/artists, then I’m not sure what will.
Even as I write this, thinking about all the horrors and the melancholy I will need to dive into, I feel a sense of trepidation (he’s that good – he can spook me on a meta level). With such a huge opus, how can I even dream of wrapping my head around all the books the man’s done – let alone present them to you, dear reader? And the simple answer is – I can’t. But I will show you my personal favorites, and you’re free to scream at me in the comments that I’ve missed the best book!
The Rural Horror Of Jeff Lemire
When examining the themes in Lemire’s work, there are clear threads he is familiar with and follows in many of his stories. This doesn’t mean he relies on them as a crutch – quite the opposite. In every new book, he reexamines the themes he explores and gives them new meaning.
The first thing that screams at me is the rural identity – his works like Essex County and Roughneck are deeply rooted in small-town iconography (particularly the Canadian kind he grew up with) – with small towns full of short, stout buildings, surrounded by bleak and wide-open spaces. What makes them interesting is that the places are somewhat like characters themselves or mirror the characters’ inner turmoil and spill it out.
Isolation and loneliness are another thing Lemire explores, and he does it well. He loves to examine people (and I’m using this term loosely – not always humans!) who are disconnected from their peers. Whether physically buried in these vast spaces, or emotionally and spiritually – Lemire loves writing about the Others – strangers to their kind.
As a counter-thesis to this, many of his works also examine families – whether by blood or by choice. Children becoming disillusioned with their parents, fathers and mothers going to great lengths to protect their kids, strangers joining together to create a cohesive unit – you will find it all in his pages.
A Writer And An Artist
Similar to my previous article about Daniel Warren Johnson, Jeff Lemire is not just a writer but an artist as well. His visual style plays with tone and setting a lot, and I think it’s a great reflection of his writing chops too.
His linework can seem unsure or shaky, but there is a clear certainty to it. His figures are often lanky and angular, and the fact that they all look worn down – slouched and hollow-eyed – helps further demonstrate the weight they often carry.
The same can be said of his colors, which are often very withdrawn, muted, or washed out. He knows exactly how to play with the emotional tone, set the mood, and show that he’s focusing not on spectacle but on how you should feel. If I were to compare it to an art movement, I’d call him an Impressionist – and not only because of his choice of watercolors.
Essex County
What better place to start writing about Lemire’s works than where it all began – in Essex County, Ontario. Essex County is a trilogy of stories written and illustrated by Jeff Lemire, set in his hometown. It tracks the lives of people living there, their dreams and aspirations, and is a lovely work of dramatic fiction.
Tales from the Farm tells the story of a 10-year-old orphaned boy, Lester, living on his uncle’s farm and building a strange friendship with ex-hockey star and gas station owner Jimmy Lebeuf – a bond formed through their shared sense of non-belonging.
Ghost Stories explores the life of Lou Lebeuf as he – now old and deaf – remembers the hockey-filled youth he spent with his brother Vince. He’s filled with regrets and visited by the ghosts of his loved ones. It’s a harrowing tale of aging and the inability to change the past.
The Country Nurse follows Anne Morgan, the travelling nurse for the community. We walk in her shoes for a day, gaining a broader picture of the lives explored in the previous volumes, as well as the shorter stories Lemire published in the interim.
If you’d like to know more, you can watch an amazing review over on Walt’s YouTube channel under Getting Graphic with Matt (BTW, does everyone working for Walt need to be called Matt? Do I need to change my name?). All the volumes have also been collected in The Collected Essex County – and it’s a fantastic respite from the superheroics and other horrors we’ll delve into. And for those who don’t like reading (how are you here?), there was also a lovely CBC Television adaptation of the book!
Sweet Tooth
Sweet Tooth was a Vertigo ongoing series written and drawn by Jeff Lemire, with colors by Jose Villarrubia. The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the Affliction has ravaged Earth's population. Children born in this new world are human-animal hybrids – like Gus, our protagonist, who is a deer hybrid.
After his father dies, Gus is left all alone. A man called Jeppard saves him from hunters and promises to take him to The Preserve – a safe haven for kids like Gus. The story contrasts Gus’ sweet innocence with Jeppard’s violent worldview as they traverse the new, post-apocalyptic version of the American frontier. It’s another story of found family and fatherhood that will play with your emotions.
While there are three trades you can hunt down, DC also published the Sweet Tooth Compendium, which collects the whole story for your convenience. It also received a very successful Netflix adaptation! But I encourage you to read it and see why Jeff Lemire is considered one of the best.
Animal Man
Staying (sort of) in the Vertigo imprint (and also in the animal kingdom, funnily enough) – let’s talk Animal Man! When the New 52 started and DC titles were getting revamped, many characters from Vertigo were absorbed into the main continuity (e.g., Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, and Animal Man). Jeff Lemire was given the daunting task of continuing the story of Buddy Baker, taking over from Grant Morrison’s seminal run (collected in both omnibus and compendium formats).
Buddy is an everyman who can gain the abilities of any animal on Earth. He uses these powers for activism. However, his primary responsibility is as a father – taking care of his four-year-old daughter, Maxine. When she suddenly starts exhibiting similar powers, Buddy’s life is thrown into turmoil.
Yet another amazing story of fatherhood, Animal Man leans more heavily into horror and loss. And while Morrison delved into meta-storytelling, Lemire focused on the metaphysics. It’s further enhanced by a killer’s row of artists, including Travel Foreman, Steve Pugh, Rafael Albuquerque, and Timothy Green II. It is collected as Animal Man by Jeff Lemire omnibus.
Black Hammer
I write a lot about superheroes – but what if there were a world free of them? What if the heroes we know and love were just like other urban legends? That’s the world we find in the pages of Black Hammer, where five heroes defeated Anti-God, only for their bodies to mysteriously disappear in the resulting explosion.
The heroes find themselves in a setting Lemire is very familiar with – an idyllic farming village in the countryside – with no escape in sight. And while they might not like it, they are stuck living it, until a mysterious woman sets in motion events that threaten to change that.
Going through the pages of Black Hammer, I cannot help but think about the superhero stories of the past. And while the story itself has a healthy does of this (with references to anything and everything from the superhero comics), Dean Ormstorn’s art does a lot of work too! It’s detailed yet rough, reminiscent of Frank Quitely’s elongated forms and uneasy faces. Dave Stewart’s colors also push this feeling further, helping transport us into this new yet old world of superheroes that Lemire built at Dark Horse.
Now, Black Hammer has a reading order that almost requires a reading guide of its own – because Lemire was building an entire Black Hammer universe. With various spin-offs and sequels, it can be tough to figure out what to read. The main story is collected in two Black Hammer trades: Secret Origins and The Event – both of which are also included in Black Hammer Library Edition Volume 1. The continuation of the main story appears in Volume 2 and Volume 3, each collecting separate sequel series. Meanwhile, the spin-offs are collected in World of Black Hammer books – available in Library Editions and omnibuses with varying availability.
Gideon Falls
Isolation can be a powerful tool to drive character progression – but it can also serve as a strong element of horror. In comics, the most effective horror comes from dread and that primal fear lurking in the back of your mind – fear of the uncanny and the unknown. This is exactly what Lemire and artist Andrea Sorrentino (with Dave Stewart on colors) achieved in Gideon Falls.
The Black Barn appears without warning to various people around Gideon Falls, always bringing terror and misfortune. An ensemble cast of characters is confronted with the mystery it presents and must work together to piece everything together.
For Norton, the mystery lies in the city’s trash he so obsessively collects. For Dr. Xu, the challenge is deciding where to draw the line between belief and sharing delusions with the patient she's treating. Father Fred confronts demons from his past when a grisly encounter with the Black Barn sets the story in motion, while Sheriff Clara Sutton digs deeper into her personal connection to the Barn and how it affected her family. The story is mind-bending, with some bone-chilling panels thanks to the main villain – the Laughing Man – but uncovering the mystery is part of the charm, so I’ll leave it at that.
Sorrentino’s art is as amazing as ever – although the texture added to every page does take some getting used to. There is a washed-out effect present on every page that gives the book a slight “found footage” feeling, which only heightens the dread as the tension builds and more questions arise.
If you are fond of Twin Peaks–type mysteries (the Black Lodge serves as inspiration) and want to be afraid of a person smiling at you, then make sure to pick up Gideon Falls Deluxe Editions: Volume 1 and Volume 2 for the complete story in the best format. The story is also collected in a set of six trade paperbacks.
Descender
If you’re more into science fiction, then Descender is the epic for you! The story follows Tim-21, a childlike android who finds himself in a world where his kind is outlawed and hunted. Now, Tim-21 is on the run, while different factions want to destroy him, study him, or use him to further their own agendas.
This odyssey through space examines identity, humanity, and ethics – classical themes found in stories of the kind – through a very Lemire lens. Dustin Nguyen does amazing work on art and color – mixing sci-fi with watercolors, giving Tim-21 a wide-eyed charm and wonder while also creating magnificent horrors and marvels of space. It’s a very interesting blend of techniques that works really well.
The story is collected in a Compendium format as well as two deluxe editions: Volume 1 and Volume 2.
Finding Kinship in Loneliness
There are many other works by Jeff Lemire that stand out – both from the Big Two and in the independent scene. These are just some of his most beloved creations – most of them exploring themes of loneliness and isolation. I find them especially interesting to explore in the modern world – particularly in a post-COVID era – where we seem more connected than ever thanks to technology, yet still feel very isolated from one another. Maybe these books, with their focus on solitude, grief and identity, can bring us one step closer to each other – and to ourselves. If nothing else, they’re very fun reads, and I’m always excited to pick up a new Jeff Lemire book when I see one!
