Reel Love Act Two is a haunting teenage dream - review

The second book in Owen Michael Johnson's Reel Love series continues his tale of a young man's love affair with the cinema.

'Concessions' takes us into the teens of our young hero, following him into a new job at his beloved cinema with a cast of similarly passionate and disaffected colleagues, with his continuing attempts to make a movie dissolving slowly into a crisis of faith.

Act Two shows a greatly increased confidence over its predecessor. Johnson continues to be experimental with his pencils, playing with layouts and combining a sense of realism with a twist of the cartoonish and fantastical.

But his technique has clearly developed, giving us a much stronger, sharper and more confident line that makes the comic a smoother and more accessible read. Reel Love is beautifully dynamic, giving a great sense of locations - from dingy alleys and stark student house parties to the grandeur of the cinema lobby - and the characters are positioned across the panels in such a way that every page feels richly filled, carefully balanced and a joy to look at. The occasional slip in proportion or layout demonstrate that, at his best, Johnson is a brilliantly talented creator.

Johnson paints a picture that is pure teenage angst, using a shorthand that is both familiar and nostalgic. His hero is, like any proper adolescent protagonist, charming and insufferable by turns, and we found ourselves either agreeing wholeheartedly with his opinions or wanting to give him a good hard shake, while uncomfortably remembering when we were as contrary and passionate as the cast of young characters.

The comic is filled with both archetypes - the sarcastic and arty colleague, the mean boss, the meathead cinema-goer - and the kind of people you meet in your everyday lives, including the harassed and impatient mother who isn't afraid to show it, whose child is probably one of the most terrifying creations in comics.

We missed the heavier, poetic narration of the cinema itself from the first book a bit, but as this was a different beast, more narrative driven and less dreamlike, the change feels justified. And still the book gives the sense of the aching transition of growing from a child into an adult.

Reel Love Act Two is a great achievement from an interesting and thoughtful creator, well worth keeping your eye on. And Owen, if you ever considered launching a Trash Mutants Kickstarter, we'll be lining up to donate.

Reel Love Act Two is launching this weekend at Glasgow Comic Con and is available from Changeling Studios now. You can read Act One for free on Johnson's website.

Hugh Armitage

Hugh Armitage is Movies Editor at Digital Spy.