Books like Channel Zero

“Channel Zero” is a sobering look at a government agenda that thrives on keeping people ignorant. For any paranoid readers out there, it is easy to envision that the plan to intellectually disable individuals is being inaugurated as we go about our daily lives. Although providing a sobering message and some fantastic art work, “Channel Zero” does not pack the proverbial punch that it should have. My main criticism of this novel is that it is unable to keep up the energy and interest that is generated in the first few chapters. The novel opens with the scene of New York that has undergone censorship. The government has passed a ‘Clean Act’ that heavily limits the freedom of speech of individuals and gives the government full censorship rights over the media that is available to all citizens. The only media freely available to individuals is so filtered and dumbed-down that the majority of citizens lack the mental fortitude to question the government’s agenda or generate any thought demonstrating individuality. Luckily there is a resistance movement prepared to fight for the freedom of thought and speech. This is where my interest began to wane. The resistance movement appears to be a group of individuals who wish to appear ‘hip’ and seek attention rather than liberation. At the forefront of this resistance movement is Jennie 2.5 who uses the government’s media against them with questionable results. Jennie 2.5 is a poor anti-hero as she seems far more interested in generating attention rather than bringing about change. While the artwork is fantastic in its monotone starkness, the plot doesn’t compare and is often overshadowed by the dramatic panels. Even the initial anti-establishment message seems to become lost in the conflicting ideologies of Jennie 2.5. This may be due to the inexperience of the author in working with this medium (“Channel Zero” was Brian Wood’s first attempt to create a comic) or extensive over-editing by publishers.Overall this novel is defiantly worth a read for the first few chapters alone.