Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
There is arguably no man to have ever walk the Earth who didn’t see himself as the hero in somebody’s eyes at one point in his life, or at least hope that he could be, to play out in his mind the actions of assisting personally in the healing of the soul that has been damaged, to exact revenge on behalf of the injured party, or at least destroy himself in the process. It is the basis of the storm that rages inside, the young man’s belief that to die nobly for a cause is a far greater reward than to live ignobly forever writing of other’s success.
It is the act of selfless suicide of the relationship, it is the chaos and upheaval some crave, the need to untangle their lives completely as they search for meaning, and if there happens to be a broken soul to fix on the way to the scaffold of self-denial, of anarchy in the mind, then this age-old story will always play out with confidence, with madness and assured possessiveness in the eye of the Tumult.
To capture the anarchy within this personal act takes great insight, to counterbalance it, to magnify it further, that is the truth behind art, and in the collaboration between John Harris Dunning and Michael Kennedy in their graphic novel Tumult, the experience is focused upon with greater effect as the story unfolds and the real reason for a man’s fall is explored.
It is in the introduction of Multiple Personality Disorder via the woman with a past, Morgan, in which the emotional free-fall is given passionate weight, a spirit not often explored within the graphic novel range; and carefully navigated by the writer and the artist, the sense of free-fall and emotional dystopia becomes a story in which the Noir comes through, the element of murder always being a captivating, and complicated, drive.
To be able to convey the meaning behind anyone’s fall, the inner thought that makes them want to leave the life of the comfortable and step into the darkness of another’s life, takes great imagination and trust in the creative progression, and for Birmingham’s Mr. Michael Kennedy, his first graphic novel experience comes over as beautiful, elegant, and often brutally enlightening.
Tumult is an experience that the audience would appreciate, it is the battle within ourselves; there is no such thing as the Devil, or of Gods, just humanity believing at all times, that life deserves such a fall from grace, a pioneering introduction to an educational and clarity inducing collaboration.
John Harris Dunning and Michael Kennedy’s Tumult is out now via SelfMadeHero.
Ian D. Hall