Don’t Spit In The Wind
Writing: Stefano Cardoselli
Illustrated: Stefano Cardoselli
Color: Dan Lee
Lettering: Dan Lee
Publisher: Mad Cave
Don’t Spit In The Wind is a one-two punch. From the first issue, which was hand-selected for me by my local comic shop, I knew the art was going to be wild. The world, which the art perfectly portrays, is grubby. It’s a trash world with trash people collecting trash. But it’s also a little bit future, a little bit dystopian, and sketchy. Then, on the other hand, the characters–and subsequently their story–pack an emotional punch that I did not expect to hit so hard. Maybe it’s the inevitability of climate change. Maybe it’s the overwhelming cloud of capitalism. I’m not sure. But I was not ready for the end of the first volume.
With a history of working with Heavy Metal, it’s no surprise that Stefano Cardoselli has really mastered a balance of sketchy beauty when it comes to character and world design. Don’t Spit In The Wind often reminds me of Moebius, which is new to me. But where Moebius goes far off into the mystical science fiction future, Cardoselli grounds Don’t Spit In The Wind in a very realistic future, and it’s full of trash. What appeals to me most about the illustrations are the details. They’re intricate, but sketchy. They’re thoughtful, yet often chaotically stacked with detail. In an interview with PREVIEWSworld, Cardoselli says: “The first comic I read was Spider-Man by Steve Ditko. Then through a cousin of mine, I got to know Metal Hurlant and Heavy Metal Magazine and I was completely fascinated by them. Growing up I discovered other authors such as Moebius, Geof Darrow, Frank Miller, and many others.” When you look at Geof Darrow, you can really see the level of detail in the specifics–the space between the open bits of machines, the wires within wires within wires, etc–and, more importantly, you can see where Cardoselli lovingly took inspiration.
The colors, by Dan Lee, are the perfect level of bright dull colors. Muted pinks and gradient turquoise fade into a desert sunset green on the horizon. Like the illustrations, these colors are a character on the page. They give the emptiness a vast quality and pick up on the intricate details, highlighting the smallest corners and the brightest flames (literally at a penultimate moment in the first issue of the volume when locusts attack).
In the first issue of Don’t Spit In The Wind, we’re introduced to Travis, who is Unit 1. Travis is out on the waste-field, collecting trash in his big mech-like suit. He fills us in on the world’s setting–Earth has become inhospitable (poisonous, treeless, dangerous) and humans have escaped to a space station–and he lets us know that they’ve lost contact with Unit 6 after he entered an area of high radiation. So now we have a rescue mission.
As Travis makes his way to the irradiated zone to try to find out what happened to Unit 6, we are also introduced to Cassandra (who is the love of his life), and Unit 4 – Rodriguez. But, as they enter a giant structure to find Unit 6, things go from bad to worse as a horde of locusts arrive, separating the party.
There is never a sense of safety in Don’t Spit In The Wind, which is not to say that you don’t connect to the characters because you never know when they’ll leave the story (willingly or unwillingly), but more that this world feels dangerous. As you can expect, the trash collectors are not alone on Earth. In the second issue we get introduced to a group of cultists who spread chaos, chanting Glory! Glory! To the God of plastic! And, to no one’s real surprise, the radiation has made some things very big and scary. In addition to a sense of danger, there is also smartly an answer to “but where did all the people go, and why don’t they care about what’s happening on Earth?” The answer feels unfortunately timely, as we are heading into historically high temperatures on Earth in our own, non-comic-book world and there is a laughable amount of corporate greed and corruption out in the open, in America at least.
Don’t Spit In The Wind is a raucous, wild looking story that may only encompass one horrible day in these trash collector’s lives. It has loss and friendship, it has love and corruption, and it has beautiful art. The comic seller was right, I was extremely into this title and am very excited to see it collected into a trade so people can take it in all at once.
Verdict: BUY
Don’t Spit in the Wind is available now!
Read a new entry in the Trade Rating series every Thursday at The Beat.
