Greendale by Neil Young

6/10

Guided by Neil Young and based on his Greendale album, writer Joshua Dysart (Unknown Soldier) and artist Cliff Chiang (Human Target) compose its graphic novel counterpart. In the Fall of 2003, as the nation blindly gallops into a war most of the world doesn't seem to want, a politically active teenage girl named Sun Green lives, loves and dreams in a small southern California town named after her family - a place called Greendale. Sun has always been different. Maybe it's because of her heritage. There's been talk that the Green family women have always had a preternatural communion with nature. It's not something Sun has ever really wondered too much about. That is, until a Stranger comes to town, a character whose arrival triggers everything in Greendale to...well...go to hell. To combat it, Sun will find herself on a surreal, transformative journey to unearth the mystery of the Green family women, not just to face the nefarious Stranger in her home, but to confront the mounting injustice that's gathering outside it as well.

Greendale is one of those stories that just doesn’t seem to say enough. This isn’t to say that being left wanting more isn’t a bad thing. Based around a fictional town called Greendale it focuses on the youngest member of the Green Family. It introduces a lot of characters that could almost have their own spin off graphic novels. This can be frustrating when you feel you might be gaining some new information, before you are swept back into the main story.

This graphic novel is about hope and what you as an individual can inspire or aspire to. Although the message may have come a bit late, as this is set around the real world events of the start of the Iraq war. You may enjoy this graphic novel more if you also looked into Neil Young’s concept album Greendale which inspired this graphic novel, there is a possibility that it may enhance your reading of the story. As the concept album came first this also might be why the story as a whole isn’t as good as it could be as it is more of a companion piece rather that a stand alone graphic novel making a statement such as Alan Moore’s Watchmen.