Writer: Ales Kot / Artist: Daniel Zezelj / Image Comics
This is it y’all. The penultimate issue of the ‘omigod, are they talking about right now?’ quasi-dystopian comic Days Of Hate.
We’ve made it through the first ten issues of this masterfully orchestrated political maelstrom of to arrive here, at the precipice of the run: issue #11. This narrative is coming down to the wire with the urgency of Thomas Edison talking smack to Nikola Tesla through a Kanye West sample.
It. Gets. Even. More. Real.
We pick up right where Ales Kot left off: with the assassination of Agent Freeman’s whole family! The stage is set and the trifecta of players are quite literally triangulating the end of the story.
Up until now, there have been allusions to the presently divided political climate of the United States. Issue #11 solidifies just how closely the team working on Days Of Hate are keeping their finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the world at large. Ales Kot delivers one hell of a monologue through Huian, one gives you the idea that the country (and the staff at DOH) can see through the BS confidence put forth by a right-wing government bent on ‘purity’.
All of the new wave nazi-ism and white nationalism running rampant in the U.S. is essentially put on trial in issue #11. The text here is a scathing open letter to white supremacy. The suggested media page plays no games and throws bell hooks (lowercased intentionally, the way they wanted) in the mix real quick- just to show you how what’s popping in these academic streets!
There is no escaping the inevitable, and everything about Days Of Hate #11 is marching us headfirst into the conflict of our generation. The artwork remains dark and littered with asymmetry, panels spaced out in a way that offers cohesion to the three characters and their impact on each other and then the world at large. There is an emphasis on profile and facial emotion in issue #11, more so than the focus on eyes in previous issues. Danijel Žeželj brings all the emotion an artist can bring, with thick black borders, intense facial expressions and hyper deliberate interlocking panel sequences.
As we are one step away from the end of this whirlwind of a political thriller, I have to say: Days Of Hate is easily one of the best comics I’ve read in 2018. Bringing to bear the urgency of the where we are politically, and even more so, what we plan to do after this madness passes. Ales Kot is leading the way for a new generation of comic writers to grapple with what is happening now and to create brilliant worlds that parallel our own.
8 anti-Nazi diatribes out of 10
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