I've known Matt Silady for about ten years; this is his first graphic novel, and it's fantastic. The story is of a woman who starts up a cable network completely built around the topic of the homeless in Chicago. There are standard cable shows that have their intent tweaked towards the subject at hand, and there are also times when they just have a live feed pointed at the streets. The story is compelling, the characters are flawed but likable, and the art style reminds me more than a little of Michael Gaydos. (Matt says that's interesting, as the art was based off of photos he did - I immediately recognized on my first reading that he was his own model for the character of Grady - and that he's heard that Gaydos works off of photos in much the same way.) Especially considering this was his debut work, that's some impressive talent on display. Seriously - pick this one up. ( )

If anyone's interested in sampling the first chapter of the story, I invite them to check it out right here:

http://www.mattsilady.com

There's also some behind-the-scenes type stuff for those (like me) who are into that sort of thing. Here's a selection of some of other reviews that are out there on the web:

"Matt Silady explores his ludicrous premise in Homeless Channel with intelligence, yielding powerful drama when Darcy's mentally ill sister enters. The imagery is incongruously antiseptic, but sometimes inspired, as when Darcy's life plays out on a Candy Land-like board. A-" Entertainment Weekly

"Raw, smart comic... visually stunning..." Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing:
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/08/08/homeless_channel_raw.html

"There’s the same slightly crumpled, wry idealism at work here as there is in the very best episodes of The West Wing... unmissably good." Alasdair Stuart, Fractal Matter:
http://fractalmatter.com/main/?p=606

"With fully realized characters, this slice-of-life book shows that you don’t have to have capes and eye-beams to make a good comic." Ain't It Cool News
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/33067

And if you've read the book, I'd love to hear what you think. Loved it or hated it, I'm interested in hearing it all. I'm not worried about criticism. If we all liked the exact same kinds of stories, then all the books out there would be exactly the same! And that would be no fun at all.

All the best,

Matt ( )