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March 10, 2006
American Virgin: Great First Issue
My pick of the week is American Virgin, the first Vertigo comic that I've read in years. Virgin is written by Steven T. Seagal and drawn by Becky Cloonan (Demo). The titular character is a young college kid named Adam Chamberlin, a devout fellow who has pledged to God never to have sex (or jerk off for that matter) until he's married to his high school sweetheart. He travels to various forums where he gets kids to make the same pledge to God. Because Adam is so sincere in his beliefs, he's extremely good at convincing people to keep their pants zipped. His parents run a Christian TV program and think that Adam's going to be the next Billy Graham. His sister, brother, and cousins are far away from being perfect role models. Adam tries to get his kid brother to make a speech to a Christian mob, but finds him getting stoned instead.
I have to admit I'm skeptical over the long term nature of this series. It seems inevitable that Adam would lose his virginity soon, and then what happens to the title? He doesn't in this issue, although Adam comes very close when he encounters a stripper. This is an interesting comic on many levels. One, there is no horror/supernatural angle to this Vertigo title. Two, it's about sex, and how the main character resists it. Three, it's got the strong Christianity angle, but Seagal doesn't go balls out in attacking religion. It's a great first issue and holds a lot of promise. I'll be interested to see where it goes from here. Nuff said.
External Links:
Steven Seagal on American Virgin at CBR
