Image Comics' One Model Nation, from Dandy Warhol's frontman Courtney Taylor (credited as C. Allbritton Taylor here) with an assist from historian Donovan Leitch, is a book that has been on our Comics Guide twice, neither of which was for the month of January. However, lo and behold, it finally arrived on my doorstep and I shredded through its wrappings with anticipation.
Despite its intriguing premise - a period piece set amongst the backdrop of Germany during the days of the Baader-Meinhof group in the late 1970's, One Model Nation has just a few too many trappings of a new writer finding his bearings on the comic book format to tackle such a complicated political landscape. Taylor attempts to create a fictional band, the titular One Model Nation, as a focal point for the Red Army Faction's youth-oriented terror campaign, whether they intended to be or not.
The utter disappointment comes perhaps from the genius of Image's marketing for this book. Though it's historical fiction, it was advertised as though One Model Nation was a real band that was leading this violent movement , only to suddenly disappear without a trace. The problem is that once you open the book, that's all you really know, because the writing doesn't really paint any sort of picture for you. For the amount of dialog throughout this book, it's remarkable what little substance results. There are failed attempts at characterization for various band members, but Taylor seems more interested in forming clever ways for his characters to interact with real historical figures like David Bowie and Thorwald Proll.
Honestly, it's a novel idea and perhaps a more experienced comic writer could have made it all work, but Taylor simply lacks the chops to create a cohesive, character-driven experience with such a broad range of ideas. All at once he wants One Model Nation to be Velvet Goldmine mixed with The Battle of Algiers but never pulls it off, even remotely.
The art from Jim Rugg and Cary Porter is great. Porter handles the sequences that bookend the story, using what seems to be little more than charcoal and a pencil. Rugg handles the bulk of the book, and in sharp contrast to Porter's broader approach to panel layouts. One Model Nation is almost entirely presented in a 9-panel grid, from page to page. There are variants every so often, but Rugg keeps a rigidly precise storytelling model for his pages, which really helps underline the tone and themes Taylor was shooting for. His line work is good; there are problems with funky perspective and bizarre facial features that are mostly a result of the coloring in the book, but in general the art of One Model Nation makes it worth taking a look at.
I had high hopes for this project - in fact, back in our October Comics Guide I said "Expect to be hearing the title of this book often as we head into the new year." Well, it's the new year, and I'm afraid that one of the only places you might see this book pop up again is in our "Most Disappointing Releases of 2010" list that will surely be written next December. There's one hell of an idea here, unfortunately the talent behind it wasn't enough to turn around a product that lived up to it.
