Blood red and a childlike rainbow stand out against the monotone in Jeff Lemire’s new Image Comics book. Let’s talk about what it means.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Image Comics’ Little Monsters #1
Little Monsters by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen begins innocently enough: a set of children wander about in a black-and-white wasteland, their days mundane as they await the arrival of someone called “The Elder.” Beginnings, though, are only stages for the setting, and Little Monsters wastes no time in positioning its dramatis personae. “The Children,” as the narration calls them, are named twice: once before their stories begin and once before the climax of the issue.
In each of these nameplates, red is splashed across the bottom, and it is one of the two times that color is expressed in the narrative. Red is everywhere, but it is the only color that is used beyond a single instance elsewhere in the text. As the text continues, though, there is some level of sense given to why color is used where it is. In Little Monsters, color is only used in red and in moments representing childhood.
Lemire’s New Lost Boys Have A Nihilistic Streak
Throughout the text, The Children appear to be chasing either new highs or lows, with games of capture the flag played in bored antipathy juxtaposed with leaps from tall buildings. The conversations among the characters reveal that decades of the same games have passed, in spite of them all appearing to be very young. Eventually, the text reveals that these lost boys are not imbued with playful immortality; they are Lost Boys-style vampires who must subsist on the blood of the living, be that the man who is implied to be consumed at the end of the text or the rat that is graphically eaten by The Children.
Therein, readers get their first true glimpse of color in the text: red. The bloody color burns throughout the text, apparently representative of The Children and their bloodlust, willing or otherwise. The intriguing point, though, is what Lemire and Nguyen choose to paint red. The moon burns red in the text, and musical notes float red along the wind. This color stands out boldly against the black and white comic book, and almost certainly represents The Children’s bloodlust, foreshadowing their vampiric reveal at the end of Issue 1.
Childlike Wonder Stands Out, Even For Little Monsters
This bloodlust, however, doesn’t mean that all is sad or serious. Near the end of Little Monsters #1, a rainbow of colors makes a surprising appearance. Mice, birds, trees, and rabbits appear, chalked on a wall in pinks and blues.
Even among death and blood, childlike wonder manages a place. Earlier in the issue, stuffed animals fail to create color. Fun and games are generally colorless. Yet, Lemire’s lost boys somehow manage to find a place in this world for new creativity and fun. Even as their humanity left them at least a century ago, The Children manage to find some way to still be children.
Herein lies the thesis of the text: Somehow, this traumatic, bloody reality cannot stop the hopeful childhood of The Children. In spite of the rules of The Twilight Saga, ancient children are not necessarily stuck in a miserable, unending existence. For The Children of Little Monsters, eternal life can dull experiences, but life doesn’t become a pointless, eternal hunger for blood. In fact, there are still experiences that can color existence, even as hunger tears across one’s childhood.
About The Author
For all the latest Comics News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.