By Zack Quaintance — Blue in Green — a new graphic novel from writer Ram V., artist Anand RK, and letterer Aditya Bidikar — feels first and foremost like a comic for other people who make comics. By this I mean that from the first page it is an absolute tour de force in comics craft, a book in which it feels like each member of the amply-talented creative team is working to one-up each other. As someone who makes my own comics, I was blown away upon each page turn to see how the writing, artwork, and text would connect and cohere. It almost felt like my brain (and perception of what’s possible with the medium) was slowly expanding.

This is all perhaps why it feels so fitting that one of the (main) elements in the book is jazz music. You see, this is a graphic novel that feels throughout like its creators are riffing, like the art is building from the prose which is rising to meet the design and lettering, and vice versa. It feels like as the new pages were coming in, Ram V. was seeing the art, and writing his ass off to match it, with the rest of the creative team doing the same. In researching the book, I came to find out via an interview with SyFy Wire that the story was indeed largely the product of a sort of comics improv.

On the merits of all this, the book is very much worth picking up. The downside to all this is that the thematic interests within can sometimes feel fleeting. I found myself at various points forgetting what the whole affair was about: was it about escaping a troubled past, a mysterious saxophone player, dedicating one’s life to the arts, the changing nature of great American cities, a love story between would-be high school sweethearts, or even the supernatural. All of these things are in this 120-page book, and as a result, there were a lot of thematic interests competing for space in my head as I made my way through Blue in Green.

But given the high level of craft on display, I was happy to have them all there. I didn’t open Blue in Green for a tidy narrative, and, indeed, tidy is not the point here. Tidy is not what’s for sale, and it shouldn’t be, not with a work of such creative wherewithal and daring. In the end, Blue in Green is a story about mess, about creativity, and about being haunted by the pursuit. It’s a story of what can be both gained and loss by giving oneself over to the mysterious process of creation, the pieces of life that fall away and the reputation and immortality that are to be gained. It’s a book I recommend to anyone and everyone who has ever felt the pull to create.

Graphic Novel Review - Blue in Green

Blue in Green
Writer: Ram V.
Artist: Anand RK
Colors: John J. Pearson
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
Designer: Tom Mueller
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $17.99
The dark and haunting portrayal of a young musician’s pursuit of creative genius—the monstrous nature of which threatens to consume him as it did his predecessor half a century ago. From creators RAM V (Grafity’s Wall, These Savage Shores) and ANAND RK (Grafity’s Wall), BLUE IN GREEN is an exploration of ambitions, expectations, and the horrific depths of their spiraling pursuit.
Buy It Digitally: Blue in Green on comiXology

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.