Wild Animals vol. 1-2 review
Set in the turmoil of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Wild Animals is the memory of Ma Xiaojun. In volume 1, the memories are solid. He is sixteen, young, impressionable and plays at violence. He and his friends talk of the revolution but it hardly touches them as they try to bridge the gap between childhood and their impending adult lives. It is during this time that Xiaojun meets the beautiful Mi Lan. Mi Lan quickly becomes the central focus of their gang and of Xiaojun’s thoughts. He becomes obsessed but doesn’t quite know what to do with himself.
In volume 2, the memories begin to fall apart. The adult Xiaojun interjects with his thoughts and questions himself. The memories become more painful, is this why Xiaojun rejects them? Mi Lan falls for the popular and good looking Gau Pu. Xiaojun immaturely answers this rejection by treating Mi Lan cruelly. Finally, he lashes out in a violent and desperate attack. Or does he? Adult Xiaojun insists this couldn’t have really happened, that it was just the imagination of an adolescent boy.
The pain and joy so often present in good coming of age stories is felt here too. Xiaojun’s desire to be accepted drives him to commit small crimes, lie to his father and fight Mi Lan. By the second volume though, the coming of age theme gives way to a darker truth – that not everyone makes it. Some fall behind, some commit crimes they can never make up for or move past. So goes the memory of Xiaojun. Whether his memory is real or a figment of his imagination is left up to the reader but one thing is very clear, Xiaojun saw himself as a good soldier and a good friend and he aches when he fails at both of those.
Friendship is all the boys underneath Mao have. Their parents are off at war, leaving them alone for weeks at a time. The boys bond and live off each other. The friendship they have is both touching and eery.
The stunning art follows Xiaojun’s memories, very crisp and clear when he’s absolutely sure of a memory, bright and sunny when it’s one he treasures, hazy and dark when it’s one that brings him pain. Then descends into a mess of lines and squiggles with barely recognizable human shapes when he questions if the memory is even real. Mi Lan is given special attention, showing up in portraits caught in time. Beautiful and sensual, even adult Xiaojun is charmed and lavishes in her memory, letting the story stop so he can sit with her for a bit longer.
Wild Animals is an adaptation of the novel Days of Dazzling Sunshine. Artist Song Yang is hailed as a prodigy and lives up to his title here. He expresses his love for the story in his artist’s preface but his work can easily stand as its own piece. It is the sort of book that graphic novels readers love, a good story told with beautiful pictures that can be read in many different ways.
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