Twenty years later, he'll fight for his life in the face of a witch hunt over his sexuality. In the '60s young Barney overflows with political vigor, and yet he can't work for (or even speak about) the one issue that affects him the most intimately. One of Orner's most appealing tactics is highlighting the different ironies attached to Frank's homosexuality at different stages of his career. This book - like Frank's life - is so epic, people will doubtless be finding new aspects to appreciate for years to come. Those sentimental passages about what it was like to get involved in politics in the early '60s - convinced the world could be saved, and you and your friends could save it - are both nostalgic and galvanizing. Orner's excessive (and understandable) devotion only mars his story slightly, though. Its subject certainly demands attention: The life of a famous liberal firebrand and gay hero, as told by his former staff counsel and press secretary. Hopefully Orner's first graphic novel will impact his career the same way Bechdel's Fun Home did hers. That can be attributed to Ethan Green's form (a comic strip rather than the artier graphic novel) and the fact that it ran in gay newspapers (where the comics are often squeezed into the classifieds section, a location seldom explored by straight readers).
Though his comic strip The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green ran for about 15 years, even becoming a movie in 2005, he's never gotten a lot of attention outside the gay press. Like the once-overlooked, now-celebrated Alison Bechdel, Orner has long gotten short shrift from straight critics. Even if you were to page through this book without looking at any of the words, it would still be a great read. Smahtguy isn't just a great story, it's an enveloping visual experience crafted by a terrific artist with an amazing line. They'll talk about things like pacing, characterization and historical significance rather than about art.
It's this: Smahtguy's subject is so powerful, its story so engagingly told, that reviewers will probably concentrate on its success as a narrative.
There's one thing that's unfortunate about Smahtguy, Eric Orner's sweeping new graphic novel about the life of former Mass.