GRAPHIC NOVELS

Sports Is Hell

Koyama. Feb. 2020. 60p. ISBN 9781927668757. pap. $15. Rated: Teen+. satire
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The final moments of the Super Bowl are interrupted by a series of explosions all around the stadium, causing a massive blackout that leads to complete chaos in this riotous satire by Passmore (BTTM FDDRS). Fashionable anarchists Kewku and Tea view the rioting and looting as an opportunity to kickstart what they hope will be a real revolution. Meanwhile, a Black Lives Matter activist accompanied by a pair of hapless allies’ searches for a wide receiver who famously put his career in jeopardy protesting police brutality, determined to convince him to accept the leadership of the movement. The cast is brought together as they seek refuge from riot police in an upscale grocery store, only to be targeted by heavily armed crypto-fascist football fans. As the situation worsens, the humor becomes more biting; sports broadcasters begin analyzing skirmishes between the hundreds of armed factions turning the city into a battleground, spoiled elites force their captured slaves to reenact the Super Bowl, and the hypocrisy behind nearly everyone’s ideology is laid bare.
VERDICT A lacerating, darkly hilarious howl against racism, sports fandom, and tribalism in general by an artist with a distinct and necessary vision.
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