The Filth

The Filth reminds me of The Ticket That Exploded in the way that it's cut up and takes the reader on a turn without warning, as well as the way it's provocative and violent. Yet, this time around I'm more distracted by the drawings and how they illustrate the story. Sometimes it takes me longer to read a page in this book than other books because I spend a lot of time looking at the pictures and what's going on inside of them. The concepts are really interesting too, especially the idea that the Dr. Soon created a "terrarium" of sorts to host tiny cooperative organisms to persuade viruses (or other diseases such as cancer) to help the body instead of kill. Another interesting part was the superhero part and how the person in the comic is actually reading the comic he was previously a part of. I think it's interesting that the characters Adam and Eve have the names they have and how Adam is very adamant about breaking the barrier between their world and the world of the person who is writing their lives. I like the concept that the people in the comic book are real people yet forced to live a life written or "prescribed" for them. The bouncing back and forth between the different scenes and different situations going on is also very interesting and different to think about. Officer Slade and his battles with amnesia (if he's even suffering from it and The Hand is really just manipulating him), I like the professional assassin who's a dope smoking chimp (I think this character is interesting and I look forward to seeing more of him throughout the story)...The superhero part of the comic is very cliché because most comic books are superhero comic books, yet this time they're not necessary battling a super villain but their whole existence that takes place on paper and with words and illustrations - it's also ironic and somewhat predictable that S.O. is obsessed with going into the oversphere even though he's not entirely sure it exists. There's so many contradictions that I find it a bit hard to wrap my mind around it, and the bouncing between situations and characters without warning is also a bit confusing - yet as I read on the characters cross paths and the scenes make more sense (in that I can comprehend them easier) as the story continues. I'm curious to find out what happened to put S.O. on the other side -- he is now disabled and unable to go back to his life as he once knew it, he's forced to read the comics involving his life. I like how he explains that there's other volumes or other stories involving him and Eve but in a provocative and "sick sex situations I've never even thought of," yet he admits to watching them because, "it's the closest I can get...to how it once felt to love you." Although he never had these sick sexual experiences with her, the only way for him to feel the love he used to is by being turned on by her loss of control and decency? This is weird and hard to understand, but interesting because it is so hard to understand. I can't wait to read more.