Graphic Novel Review: Koko Be Good by Jen Wang

Koko Be Good by Jen Wang
Published by First Second
Price: $18.99

My Review:

College grad Jon Wilgur is at a crossroads in his life. He's getting ready to move to Peru with his girlfriend, Emily, in a couple of weeks but he doesn't really seem too enthused about it. Emily is going to be teaching school at an orphanage near mom's hometown. Jon has decided to move there with her, but doesn't know exactly what he's gonna do when he arrives there. He loves Emily, (or does he?), but Jon seems adrift, like he's waiting to be woken up. That's when Koko comes into his life. She's in the same boat as he is, but she is also sorta homeless, sorta jobless, and basically clueless. She too, is searching for meaning and she develops a fast friendship with Jon. Things don't get romantic because there isn't that kind of attraction between the two. Instead, each recognizes that the other is a guide meant to put them on the right path. That right path becomes apparent by the dead ends Jon and Koko run into in the course of the book.

Koko Be Good comes off as a more mature slacker faces life graphic novel than the Scott Pilgrim series. There aren't any videogame references, or crazy manga/anime inspired fight scenes in Koko. But the theme is still the same. Namely, how do you go about finding out what you're supposed to do in this life? And are there people that can point you in the right direction. When you come down it, I guess it's about kids becoming adults, even when they don't want to.

The art in Koko is great, drawn in black and white and then highlighted with brown shaded watercolors. The problem with the book is the writing. We've already seen this story many times, starting with that old movie, Slackers. Unless you inject something unique or outrageous into it like Scott Pilgrim, the story of misfit semi-bums gets to be cliched. The characters aren't very interesting either. They don't seem like real people, but just ends to tell an uneventful story. The book is worth reading, but this tale has just been told so many times with better writing and better characters.

My Grade: B-

You can view a 13-page preview of Koko Be Good at this link: http://firstsecondbooks.com/koko/koko.html