| Title | : | Virgil |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 88 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2014 |
| Awards | : | IGN Award Best Original Graphic Novel (2015), VLA Graphic Novel Diversity Award Adult Honor (2015) |
Virgil Reviews
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Self marketed as queerplotation, it's your basic revenge fantasy with the twist that the main character is gay. The art in this book is so bad that I was frequently lost as to what was happening. Every character looks the same. I couldn't tell who was who during most of the scenes. And the dialog, ouch, it was rough. I get that Orlando was trying to be authentic to Jamaican speech patterns, but I needed a translator for entire passages.
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Here’s the entire pitch for Virgil - are you ready? It’s kinda mind-blowing: a standard revenge thriller where the hero… is GAY! And when I say “standard”, boy, is this comic standard - bog standard! That could basically be the entire review but let’s pull on this thread a bit more and see what we can unravel.
Set in Kingston Town, Virgil is a cop who has a fun life shaking down drug dealers so he can save up to move to Toronto with his secret boyfriend. Virgil’s in the closet because Jamaica, it turns out, is a pretty homophobic place to live! Virgil’s sexuality is uncovered by his fellow cops and things do not go well for him from that point on. They tried to kill him and take his man? It’s revenging time, mon!
It’s cool to have more gay comics protagonists and I like that Virgil is the unstoppable badass archetype that is in every revenge story, he just happens to be into dudes. But Steve Orlando’s story is so, so bland. Virgil’s beaten nearly to death, he survives, takes the fight to his would-be killers, and blah blah blah. You’ve seen it a thousand times. Literally the one thing that sets it apart from the others is his sexuality. It’s almost a gimmicky comic in that regard.
Orlando calls his comic “queersploitation”, I think because “anything-sploitation” means you can do dumb and cheesy things and get away with them. Like how do the police know to raid Virgil’s dinner party, thus outing him? Why did they keep Virgil alive? Why did they keep his boyfriend Ervan alive? No clue to any of that - it’s just contrived nonsense that’s there so we can have this revenge tale. Mindless rubbish!
J. D. Faith’s art is pretty nice. It’s got that Sean Phillips noir-y style that suits the intense, grim storyline and I loved Chris Beckett’s imaginative use of colours which gave the comic an appealing, almost trippy, look at times. The action is a bit sludgy though which is a shame as the key scenes in the book are action-centric.
By all means, let’s have more gay heroes but don’t make that the sole reason for your book to exist. Put them in an original story! Or at the very least put them in a decent, non-formulaic story that makes sense! Just don’t bore your readers with rehashed nonsense like Steve Orlando did with Virgil. I guess it worked out for Steve though, he is writing DC’s new Midnighter series but if it’s anything like Virgil, it’ll be totally missable too. -
Basic revenge plot which doesn't offer much in term of creativity apart the fact that the main character is gay. Virgil is violently outed, left for dead then he comes back with a mean-ass attitude to get his man back.
I can deal with this plot, seen a zillion times, I can't when Virgil takes on a whole precinct on a Terminator mode. Then it just gets ridiculous.
Art is ok but just that, kinda redeemed by flashy colours.
Certainly not the gay book of the decade... -
As self described, this is a queersploitation revenge tale. A very action paced, gritty story that tells a tale of revenge about a cop whose boyfriend is kidnapped. This story try's to tackle the question of what is it like living in a world that is against you and you must hide the most important aspects of your being. Good art. Good story telling.
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4 stars for queer rage and murdering homophobes and cops.
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This is described as "queersploitation." It's your basic revenge fantasy. A Jamaican (Aside: I'm fascinated that my spellchecker suggests "Jamaican necromancer" for that last word. To the best of my knowledge, until just now, I have never typed those words in that order before. Is this so common a phrase that it's in the default dictionary? Weird. Anyway, back to the review ...) police officer is part of a group that goes around shaking down drug dealers and pocketing the extra money. It is discovered that our titular hero is a homosexual, and his fellow group members break into his house, brutally assaulting him and his lover. He wakes up in a shallow grave on the beach, apparently having been left for dead. So now They Have His Lover And He's Out For Revenge. Cue the soundtrack. It plays out in fairly standard revenge story fashion. Aside from the LGBTQ angle, this is a fairly by-the-numbers story. It's not great art or anything, but it's reasonably fun for what it is. There's one point where the art works against the story. The corrupt cops break into Virgil's locker and trash his stuff. They find a book, and speculate about what may be in it. In one panel, we see over the shoulder of the man reading it that the page he's looking at is blank. And then they burn the book. Huh? So if they were burning it because they were freaked out about the contents, shouldn't we see those contents over his shoulder? And if the contents don't matter, why show the page at all? Wouldn't it make for a more dramatic shot to show from a low angle, the cop with the book open in front of him and we can see the expression on his face as he reacts? The way it's staged in Virgil, we can't see either his reaction or the contents and it just comes off flat.
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The book often feels rushed. It could have done with a few 10-15 more pages I felt. Still, aside from one strange page I still don't comprehend, this was an arresting work. Orlando went out of his way to create an immersive atmosphere, placing the dialogue and characters firmly in Kingston. He was aiming for "queersploitation" and I think he met that aim and then some. Like I said, the story feels a bit rushed in places, but all the highlights of the genre, from chilling one liners to cathartic hyper violence, are solidly rendered. The primary selling point is obviously Virgil, a queer protagonist who grasps the agency often denied queer persons by the throat. Initially I was nervous as to how he would be characterized, but his queerness never comes across as just a cheap gimmick and his sexuality was handled with surprising nuance. Ultimately it was a powerfully provocative experience.
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We need more queer/black epics of revenge. Virgil was a short read, but engaging throughout. Beautifully tragic artwork and a kick ass protagonist. Definitely challenges the status quo of male masculinity. Five stars!
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A very good revenge story - my only negative comment is that the main character must have seen the abuse of homosexuals by his fellow officers before his small group of friends met a horrible fate: why did he not speak up before then?
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I personally don't much care for violent revenge stories. But it is good for what it is.
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More queersploitation revenge tales please.
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It's weird hearing this described as "queersploitation", but it's accurate. A tale of revenge featuring a closeted Jamaican cop trying to escape the homophobic environment before he and his boyfriend are outed.
I've never really gotten into the exploitation film genre. I know it has a certain cult appeal, but the kind of stories focusing on racially or gender motivated revenge aren't really my thing.
And I don't think queersploitation is really my thing either. I mean it's interesting and I get the concept behind vicariously living through such a brutal tale, and I'm glad I got to experience it, but I don't have a great deal of interest in reading any other stories like this. They tend to bum me out, particularly when they have a fairly large basis in reality, except in reality the victimised usually end up dead instead of taking revenge.
The artwork was colourful and vibrant, and definitely reminded me of the kind of over-saturated films from the '70s.
So, in all it was a story I'm glad I read but I don't think I'll be reading any more from this very niche genre. -
Virgil surely is an interesting piece! It was a great decision to base this is Jamaica and make the protagonist cop gay. Virgil is about revenge, how the other cops learn Virgil is gay and decide to punish him for sucking cock. They take Virgil's boyfriend Ervan and Virgil goes on a rampage killing basically everyone. The whole revenge part isn't the most interesting thing for the reason that it's quite cliched and it doesn't offer anything new, really. Instead the memories of Virgil and Ervan together in the midst of the rampage make the whole thing heart-wrenching. The comic is about things that still exist, the prejudice and people turning their backs on those who love differently. The best part was surely of course that the characters were black and everything is quite credible, although perhaps there's too many killings and then suddenly a happy ending.
The art is crude and the colors are dark. Even if I'm not a fan of the art, it worked very well with Virgil. The whole desolation of it all was so clear. The flow was good and the memory parts were wonderfully pink and had a lighter feeling to them. Virgil is a good addition to queer comics without being sappy. Mostly it's a comic anyone can read, since the idea is universal and even if homosexuality isn't your cup of tea. -
I'm not sure why so many other people weren't able to connect with Virgil, but I personally loved the crap out of it. For anyone in the LGBTQ community who have been well acquainted with their share of bullying and unnecessary violence, you'll find something to relate to here for sure. Only unlike us in the real world, Virgil can go on a motherclucking bloody rampage to save his boyfriend and avenge his friends. It's all done in such a cinematic way and the art is so gritty, it easily recalls Foxy Brown with a side of Doom Generation and some Bloodsport style action. And it shines an essential light on just how not accepted the gay community is in Jamaica too. Again, I loved this story and I'm a huge fan of Steve Orlando's to begin with...I'd have to say this is my favorite work of his next to Midnighter. My only complaint is on the same road as what someone else said here, I think it could've been a little longer. That or maybe if there's hope for a sequel, then the length would be forgiven. Either way, this is a lightning fast read that features a tough as nails gay cop who bloodies up his detractors. Judge it for yourself, but I think some people here may have been a little too harsh.
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A Jamaican cop, who gets caught in a relationship with his boyfriend suffers severe persecution, and the death of his supportive friends, then in an epic tale of revenge he doles out justice upon both thug and officer alike to rescue his love, and avenge their friends' deaths. I enjoyed how this comic actually attempts to touch upon the persecution of Queer peoples, especially in landscapes which have no sanctions to protect them, but I honestly found the gratuitous revenge on heteronorms a little... over the top. Granted, in the comic the straights were completely hateful, and had it coming to them, but I feel almost as if the brush used to paint these demographics was a tad too broad. Moreover, I can honestly say that I personally believe two wrongs does not necessarily make a right. I would have loved to have seen a less violent solution to the scenario depicted -- if only to show today's youths that there are feasible solutions to the problems they face everyday. That being said, I did love this volume, and I cannot wait for more.
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It's pretty much a bog standard revenge story, but the added twist is that the antihero of the piece is a gay Jamaican cop who's outed by his partner and almost murdered by the men in his precinct. There's some social commentary implicit in the story as well, in that it's set in the notoriously homophobic Jamaican culture (one that I partly grew up in, and while I was aware of the homophobia, I never got a sense that it was as over the top violent as depicted here.)
I've given the book high marks overall. Mainly for what Orlando was attempting, but the caveat for me is that it could, as so often happens with Image books, used more space to tell the story -- events are compressed so much that the story becomes a non-stop Roaring Rampage Of Revenge without the breathing space to allow Virgil to be something other than a Gay Terminator; he gets out of a couple of potentially fatal situations with ease, despite the physical abuse he's endured. Virgil is very flawed, and should be a far more interesting character, I think. -
I really wanted to love this graphic novel. Maybe it's because it's a stand alone but I just couldn't connect with the characters like I wanted. Sometimes the dialogue felt weird and I wasn't sure exactly what people were talking about. The panels didn't flow well nor did they make it clear enough when things were flashbacks; sometimes they did make it clear they were flashbacks but other times don't really.
So I gave it a 2 as in "it was okay". I'm happy to have a comic with a LGBT/MOGAI protagonist of color but it really let me down. -
Brutal and gritty, this is a basic revenge action thriller, but having the protagonist essentially be fighting homophobia personifiedmakes it somehow more interesting and riveting. Both the tropes of the revenge thriller genre itself are more starkly questioned and the stakes seem more powerful. Extremely violent.
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I loved this, while it doesn't deviate from the standard revenge plot I love it for its simplicity and the fact that Virgil is willing to go through Hell to get his man back. Yes people are complaining that it doesn't bring anything new to table but people are willing to shell out money to see Taken rehashed multiple times and seem to have no problem with that so :/
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Brutal.
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This was a heavy read, but a really, really good one. It's a dark and incredibly bloody revenge story of Virgil, a gay Jamaican police officer, who is abruptly outed after many years stealth in the homophobic police force. This leads to a violent bloodbath of a raid where his boyfriend of 5 years, Ervan, is taken among other atrocities. On the back of this book it says "they shouldn't have left Virgil alive". I can see why.
Virgil is relentless in his quest to see Ervan again and lead him to safety. He endures blow after blow, and I winced more times than I could keep track of. But for every hit he takes, he gives out two more (I felt no sympathy for the bigots who fell at his hand). Watching him come to terms with who he his even as the slurs rain down was nothing short of fucking inspiring. My heart broke with the flashbacks of Virgil and Ervan's story over the years, and I could feel the desperation for a place of safety to simply be together bleeding off the pages.
Speaking of, the fact that a postcard of the Toronto skyline was present from beginning to end as their dream safe haven made me want to sob like a baby. Every time they spoke about wanting to escape their city to live in Toronto and walk down the streets hand and hand made me so proud of where I live. I never take for granted the freedom I have to do this, and to have it show up in this way in the comic hit me right where I live - literally. I see diverse people of different gender expression, race, and sexuality every single day to the point where seeing two dudes kissing on the subway doesn't even make me blink. One day I hope this will be true for every city in the world.
I think this story affected me so much because of how, although this is fiction, it's also many peoples' reality. Now in this story we got (that I seriously wish hadn't stopped so abruptly), but that's not true for everyone. But if nothing else, I hope it encourages people who are living their lives hidden to keep fighting and never deny who they are.
The art was also spectacular. The colouring was absolutely perfect and expressions ranged from tender to terrifying at the drop of a hat. A lot of talent here.
Just a warning, in case I didn't make it clear enough, this is explicit. Very, very explicit. From sex to language to an overload of violence, there's not a ton of fading to black so be prepared for the ride of your life from page one.
I'm still reeling from this, and I know for a fact that Virgil and Ervan will be lingering in my mind for a long time. The next time I walk by the C N tower maybe I'll picture them there, Virgil's arm slung around Ervan's hip, both of them just taking in the sights. I hope they made it. -
The cover art on this one-off graphic novel caught my attention, and when I saw it was set in Jamaica, I was further intrigued, as that's not a typical setting. The story is -- according to the author's note -- an attempt at "queersploitation." That is to say, the fusing of a queer protagonist with the ultraviolent sensibilities of '70s exploitation cinema. I guess that's somewhat interesting, maybe transgressive in some way, but in this incarnation, doesn't make for a great story.
Basically there's a closeted cop in Kingston who is having dinner with some other gay friends at someone's house, when a bunch of off-duty police break in and kill the friends, leave the cop alive, and take the cop's lover somewhere. (It's not clear why the American author chose to tell this story in Jamaica, but there were some reports from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International in the early 2000s that connected Jamaican police to anti-gay attacks, so perhaps that's what he was drawing upon.) This triggers a classic revenge fantasy in which the cop wreaks vengeance in tracking down who attacked him and his friends and finding his lover. Guns, machetes, hand-to-hand fighting all come into play and the body count must have been in the 20-30s.
This not very interesting story all kicks off because the closeted cop left a text message from his lover up on the screen of his flip cell phone that he set down on a table and walked away from. There are about three or four completely implausible things about that, which give a sense of the slapdash nature of the writing. There's also no explanation for why the cop and his lover also weren't killed along with the others. I guess we're supposed to ignore plot holes because it's an exploitation story -- but no one said an exploitation story has to be dumb...
Anyway, as with many graphic novels, the interior art doesn't live up at all to the cover art. It's really clunky and rudimentary, and I'm guessing the bright colors were an attempt to distract from that. The action scenes are particularly poor, as I often had to look at sequences for quite a while to make out what was supposed to be happening. Overall, a disappointment. -
Acho que é a primeira coisa lgbt que leio e achei bem curioso, temos aqui uma espécie de justiceiro jamaicano (numa jamaica onde é proibido ser homossexual) gay policial, que sai matando o mundo depois que seu namorado é sequestrado pelos seus próprios amigos policiais, olha é facão, ak-47, soco inglês... O roteiro é muuuito pobre, mas muito mesmo cheio de problemas, porém me entreti bastante lendo e a partir de algum momento não consegui largar. Achei a arte fenomenal, com claras influencias de miamo vice e foi interessante tbm ler algo escrito em inglês da jamaica que pelo que percebi tem características bem próprias: adoram suprimir o verbo to be por exemplo. É razo, é puro entretenimento, não acho que tenha sido feito pra ser uma bandeira ou algo que represente a opressão sofrida pela classe lgbt. Enfim, no geral boa experiência.
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The concept, background and main character are definitely interesting as queer, black, Caribbean characters are not found everywhere in comics/graphic novels.
Sadly, very little attention was paid to the authenticity of the language. It was nowhere close to the Jamaican dialect. This made an exciting setting for the story instantly disappointing. (Where some casual research became apparent was with the inclusion of the J-Flag organization and the style of police uniforms.)
The story also wobbles carelessly between being fast-paced and rushed; the characters definitely would have benefited from more refinement and depth.
The idea of the story is more likeable than the story itself. -
3.5 Stars. A "Queersploitation" revenge thriller. Relatively straight forward, but it does have the novelty of taking place in Jamaica. Apparently it was inspired by Kevin Keller from Archie Comics. This was a world where being gay wasn't going to be seen as taboo.
The art is great; a combination of Aja, Aco and Michael Walsh at times. Phenomenal color palette. This book doesn't look like many things on the stands. -
This is a very classic (read "basic") revenge story with a "queersploitation twist, and I loved it! It did feel rushed at times, and I definitely think there could've been at least an additional 20-30 pages. However, beyond the basic revenge plot, the novel being set in Kingston truly gave it a unique flair.
I'll have to look into "queersploitation" a bit more after reading this.
4 stars! -
Beautifully illustrated story about a cop being outed in Jamaica. The violent and hate-filled characters are depressing but they make for great cannon fodder for Virgil.
I’m not sure how to feel about this one- I enjoyed it but maybe a punisher-lite story wasn’t what it was supposed to be. I felt like Virgil won in the end but not sure if that’s what the story needed. -
Not the best graphic novel I've read, but coming from Toronto I love that Toronto is the main character's (perceived) sacred refuge. Not sure why Orlando picked Toronto specifically. But it's nice to be liked.
