Looking for a good comic? Try THC.

No, I’m not talking about Tetrahydrocannabinol so get your mind out of the gutter, and if you don’t know what that is – don’t worry. It’s not what this article is about anyway. This article is about a book I just read called The Homeless Channel by Matt Silady. I’ll get the dirty part out of the way first…Yes, I know Matt. We met last August in Chicago Rosemont, which also happens to be the first time I saw the book. Since our initial meeting we have conversed at conventions, at Isotope parties…we have actually been on a beer run together. Additionally, Matt and I are technically colleagues. We are both college professors and if I’m not mistaken we have both also had the pleasure of teaching middle school. Now that’s out of the way I can talk about his book completely objectively.

When I first saw The Homeless Channel at the Chicago Rosemont convention I wasn’t particularly drawn to it. The nature of my other profession curses me by making me judge everything on appearance, and that curse follows me in everything I do. To say that I judge books by their covers would be an understatement. As a matter of fact I have piles of books with amazing covers that I didn’t get more than a few chapters (or even pages) into. You’d think I would learn eventually. Regardless, don’t judge this book by the cover…unless you really like the cover…then you can do that. Seriously though, the reasons that I don’t like the cover are simple.

1. I am not homeless, haven’t been homeless and don’t plan on being homeless – so the title baffled me and scared me.

2. Hurm…

And that’s where my problems with the book stop. Long list, huh.

Warning – the rest of this review contains spoilers.

This book follows Darcy on a quest to create and run a 24 hour channel dedicated to homeless people. The hope/intent of the channel is to raise awareness of a truly serious problem. In Darcy’s ideal world homelessness might eventually not even exist – thus putting her out of a job. But to say this is just a story about a girl launching a television network would not do the story any justice.

The real story is about Darcy and her struggle with family, friendship, love and of course The Homeless Channel (THC). Like a lot of people in the modern day American work environment, there is not much separation between Darcy’s job and her social life. As a matter of fact her “accidental� love interest in the story is also a veritable spy from the parent network to THC. Now that’s drama!

It’s that drama that makes the characters so wonderfully crafted. Darcy, is a wonderful mix of sass, crass and heart. At first it seems that her only love is THC and by default, homeless people in general. We later learn that her connection with the homeless runs much deeper. But her complexities do not end there. She faces a seemingly endless set of trials and tribulations through the story – and I found myself rooting for her to come through stronger each time. And she’s not the only character to root for in the book – but I don’t want to sway you too much.

It boils down to this – the characters in this story are real. The story itself is real. It is well written and very easy to relate to while still making you think.

The art helps to drive the realism home. I'll briefly describe what Matt has done – but for a more complete explanation with illustrations I suggest that you check out his site - just follow the links for "The Homeless Channel", then "Behind the Scenes". He breaks it down into each individual step…and it is actually quite a process. For the layman (that’s me) he basically casts actors/models as the characters for the book. Then he takes photos of all the individual scenes with the cast and then puts the photos in Photoshop. He works the photos until they are little more than line drawings. After that he prints them, inks them (by hand) and scans them back into the computer for lettering and printing. Like I said – that was the simple explanation.

The final product is a very real image. The characters look real and feel real because they are real. They are real people that have real (not necessarily superhero) physiques. That type of realism just makes the book approachable for me.

Now I’d like to briefly go back to the one reason I thought I couldn’t relate to this book. I’m not homeless. As a matter of fact – I have very little interaction with homeless people…and what interaction I have usually involves me ignoring them or on rare occasions giving a bit of spare change. I assume this is how most people are. On page 16 Peg (Darcy’s best friend) and Darcy have a conversation that really struck a chord with me…

Peg: Do we know any homeless people?
Darcy: I do.
P: Do you know them well?
D: Yes.
P: Because is it too late to mention that they scare me?
D: That’s okay. It’s either fear or denial. They’re both defense mechanisms. You’ve got the healthier of the two.

Based on that logic I seem to fall into the denial category. Or at least the ignorance is bliss category, which is sort of a better way of saying denial. It’s just one of the many ways that this book got me thinking.

I can’t force you to buy this book – but I will highly recommend it. If you already own it, read it again. I have passed it on to my wife. I’ll be damned if I can get her to read any books, but this one has a sporting chance. Which brings me to my final point about this book; the main character is a female and the writer/creator is a male. Some people are very good at creating well rounded character of the opposite sex. Matt Silady is one of those people. Kudos to that.

Finally here are my questions to you – and they won’t be nearly as thoughtful as anything in THC – are you homeless? Do you know somebody that is homeless? What are your thoughts on homelessness in general? Have you read this book? Are you going to read this book? What did you think? Am I crazy?

Until next Friday, ciao bellas.