Tales from the Farm, the first volume of Jeff Lemire’s trilogy of stories set in Essex County, Ontario tells the story of Lester – an orphaned boy living with his Uncle Ken on a farm. Lester’s mother died of cancer and his father’s whereabouts remain unknown. When his mother died, she asked her brother, Ken, to care for him. Confused and somewhat melancholy, Lester escapes into an imaginary world of superheroes and science fiction. Even as he feeds his uncle’s chickens, he wears a cape and a mask and imagines himself flying. His uncle struggles to raise his sister’s son, clearly unprepared for the task and bewildered by Lester’s fixation on comic books. Lester finds an interesting friend in Jimmy Lebeuf, a former hockey player who works at the gas station in town. When the boy finds Jimmy fishing in the creek on his uncle’s land, the two immerse themselves in an imaginary world of superheroes and alien invaders. Their friendship proves both a saving grace and the path to a devastating secret about the past.
Tales from the Farm effortlessly mingles melancholy and youthful awe. Lemire reflects on the therapeutic and necessary qualities of the imaginative experience. Lester and Jimmy relate through their shared fantasy world and, though the reader can feel the pain of their shared revelation, their time together makes the experience that much easier for both the characters and the reader. In their world, the aliens have arrived, but the good guys will always win. And, as the story proceeds, Lester and Jimmy’s experience becomes progressively more vivid. It begins as mere conversation and culminates in a tangible experience in which fantasy and reality become indistinguishable. Lemire reminds us that sometimes dreams can soften the blows of the real world. By the story’s end, Lester has accepted his past and prepared himself for the onset of adolescence.
Lemire’s black and white art eschews stark, hyper-realized superhero art in favor of a loose, almost abstract approach. He alternately employs black negative space and huge splashes of white, with just enough art to convey the story. The reader never doubts the circumstances, but Lemire allows his melancholy world a kind of breathing room that leaves just enough to the imagination. The art rings more abstract than most readers will expect, but it contributes to the book’s ambiance quite well.
Pick this one up. It’s not always uplifting, but you’ll be better for reading it.
Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at comicscape@mania.com.
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