By Duane Murray & Shawn Daley
Guest art by Jeff Lemire, Matt Kindt, Nate Powell
Published by Top Shelf Productions
Better Place, by Duane Murray and Shawn Daley, is a tearjerker, but at the same time, it has its share of fun. Better Place is the story of space hero Red Rocket and his young sidekick Kid Cosmo, as they battle intergalactic menaces throughout the solar system!
At least that’s the way it is in Dylan’s imaginative head.
Dylan has a wonderful bond with his playful grandfather and the two of them dress up as his favorite comic book heroes. The problem is that Dylan’s grandfather is getting on in years and isn’t quite thinking as well as he used to. This causes tension and other problems with his daughter, Dylan’s mother. She finally convinces her dad to move to a retirement home and he sadly tells Dylan he’s going to “a better place.”
He then decides to go check the place out early and, unfortunately, is killed in an accident before he arrives.
These are not spoilers. This is the point where the real story begins.
The story deals with a young child’s perceptions of life and death and truth and lies. Dylan—as Kid Cosmo—doesn’t understand what happened to his partner in crime and unbeknownst to his mother or his babysitter, he sets out to reunite with Red Rocket.
Some poignant cuteness colors his quest to get to the “better place” where Grandpa told him he was going to go, which is, of course, very different from the “better place” where his mother now says he has gone. Along the way, he braves dangers, excitement, and new people in his determination to discover the truth. He visits the retirement home, a cemetery, an amusement park, and more as his mother searches frantically all the while for her son.
The art is cartoony but perfect, with lots of unusual angles and some marvelous facial nuances. Everything in Dylan’s world is shown in black, white and grey, except for the comics and his own imagination. His confusion and frustration is palpable as the story builds and the reader feels sorry for him and fears for him at the same time. As in real life, though, time continues on, and the book has a lovely ending.
We all have to deal with the loss of a loved one at some point in our lives, often beginning when we’re still children. Unexpected suddenness makes it all the harder. How old were you when death first became real to you? How did the adults around you explain it? Did it make sense? Mortality is the one thing in this life that we all share and yet it’s the one thing so many still just don’t wish to think about or talk about, let alone explain to a child.
There are children’s books on the subject of death, designed to be given out to appropriate ages. It might be a little long but for the right kids, imaginative kids, even grown-up kids, Better Place might be another one.
Booksteve recommends.
