Supermarket was a 4-issue mini-series written by Brian Wood (DMZ, New York Four) and illustrated by Kristian Donaldson. The Cash Money Edition is a reprinted publishing of the four collected issues. The story follows a girl by the name of Pella Suzuki. Pella is half Swedish and half Japanese. Her Swedish mother and Japanese father have secret pasts of their own which brought them together. That secret inevitably catches up with Pella's family and her life is turned upside down.
The Story is short thus very fast to read through so I can't elaborate on the plot as much as I would like without spoiling everything. The story has a very basic premise which makes it very cliched. Girl has it all, something unexpected(to the character anyway) happens, her life isn't what it used to be. After reading a few pages in you'll know what to expect. The obvious plot is what holds this book back. The other characters are barely blips with no real importance hence making it hard for the story to hold your interest. You only get to know Pella which isn't much to know, she's a teenage girl with basic teenage girl dialogue, a pretty dull protagonist even considering the amount of action in the story.
The redeeming quality is in Donaldson's artwork. The application of wildly expressive color on top of black backdrops and shades make this book daring in it's visuals. The creative execution in the art is what roped me into picking this up. Also, at the time I was reading DMZ and wanted to check out more of Wood's stuff. The illustration give this quirky and amusing anime-inspired look to the characters giving them a uniqueness present in the forefront as well the background(even the people drawn who are essentially the extras, like in a movie, are quality).
When it comes down to whether I recommend you should purchase this... the answer is no and yes.No, because the story isn't interesting although the art will have you hoping otherwise. A reader should definitely pass on this. Yes would go for artists who I think should examine the art and learn new ways to use color and shading to bring out more stunning visuals.
The reason I'm being so hard on this book is because Brian Wood has written a lot of great stuff. I'm especially excited to see what he does on his run of the new Star Wars ongoing. But, Supermarket was very lacking on plot considering Wood's skill.
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