Deep Cuts #5 – LOST IN THE MUSIC

DEEP CUTS #5 Creative team:

KYLE HIGGINS, JOE CLARK,

Juni Ba,

Igor Monti,

Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Publisher: Black market Narrative/ Image Comics

I want to start by saying I am not one to go out of my way to read a comic book that doesn’t involve superheroes, spandex, evil monologues, or sassy catchphrases.

I have spent so much time reading comics that are about superheroes, it seems that I’ve been sleeping on comics that are about regular people and their regular problems within their regular lives.

READ LAST ISSUE’S REVIEW

Now that I’ve read Deep Cuts, I can wholeheartedly say that my eyes have been open to an entirely different world of comics.

R. Hudson Lowell, Music Critic and Maybe Unhinged?

I’ll start with the plot of this comic. Deep Cuts #5 starts with introducing us to the main character, music critic R. Hudson Lowell, who is just waking up from a wild night of raging. Raging that included drinking, drugs, and doing the watusi on his boss’s coffee table. While trying his hardest to cancel an important meeting to hang at home to work off the after effects of a crazy night, his boss, the same one who’s coffee table became a victim of Lowell’s dance moves, demands he comes in to see him.

Lowell shows up with a yard stick assisting him due to a knee injury sustained from the raging right which didn’t impress his boss, Marty, one bit. Marty isn’t thrilled with how Lowell represented himself the night prior and decides that he wants Lowell off the assignment, which happens to be a big interview with the punk band, The Nothings. Of course, Lowell doesn’t take kindly to this and the profanities start flying.

I can’t say I wouldn’t react the same in that situation. This leads to Marty calming the situation down by stroking our main character’s ego and telling him how his writing is what truly inspired Marty to get into the writing business.

With the situation being in a much calmer state, Marty goes to tell Lowell about his new assignment. Since the another critic by the name of John Billy, or “that hack” as Lowell so lovingly referred to him as, is taking over Lowell’s interview with The Nothings, Lowell will take over the assignment John was working on.

RADIANT BLACK!

It turns out that Lowell will be covering Adler Burns, a musician who plays free jazz. For those who don’t know, free jazz is just free form jazz, no chord patterns or time patterns. Lowell isn’t pleased whatsoever with the news that it’ll be Adler Burns.

In fact, he’s already watched Adler Burns play and wasn’t impressed. But that doesn’t matter because according to Marty, they don’t pay him to enjoy the music, they pay him to cover the music.

Lowell gets to the free jazz show and we can see that he’s just not into it, but it’s his job so he has to at least appear to be entertained.

He tries to get some answers for his article from Alder Burns and Lowell gets shut down, thus furthering his lack of excitement for this project as a whole.

I think it’s interesting to see that we, the readers, can see his lack of passion he has for free jazz when we saw his excitement at the beginning at the mere mention of jazz from Marty. We see Lowell discussing the free jazz show to his friend, Ron, and he comes up with a plan to steal the spotlight from John Billy and give a proverbial middle finger to Marty by writing a tell all review. So he limps off with his one good leg to the music store to buy every album of Adler Burns he could find.

WHAT COMES NEXT?

After a failed attempt at focusing on his work, a round in which partying won, Ron shows up with jazz books in hand. Lowell has a different plan to drop some acid and go for a psychedelic ride into Burns’ jazz history.

Next, we see what can only be described as a trippy climactic roller coaster ride of Lowell rediscovering the passion that’s been pushed aside for years and years. He can’t believe his ears that THIS is what other’s have heard when they listen to Adler Burns. This is the love of the music that he’s been missing. But he still has questions that need answering, and the only person it seems that can answer these are none other than his ex Eddie.

After getting the unfriendly dial tone after a few second phone call he makes to Eddie, he parties the night away. He returns home to the phone ringing and to his surprise, it’s Eddie on the other end. We see some insight as to why Lowell is in the deep depths of despair in his life, and might I say, it’s relatable yet surprising. The phone call ends with Eddie telling Lowell that he could never understand Burns or his music because Burns uses heart, and evidently Lowell can’t relate. that his music is “

This leads to Lowell coming to an epiphany about Burns and his music, which leads him to confronting Burns and telling him that his music is “a conscious reflection of our current cultural unrest”. Burns is quick and blunt, telling him he’s not even close.

Burns invites Lowell inside after explaining that he took two ideas, intersection and palpitation, and used it to frame improvisation. Alder Burns gives Lowell the answers he desperately needed for his article, giving Lowell the tools he needed to write the article of his career. The article proves extremely successful and Lowell is back on top and off to his next assignment. “Anything but jazz” he says.

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Like I said at the beginning, this isn’t the type of comic I’d go out of my way to give a read but I’m so glad I did. To be able to see the passion for music and how it can influence you in written word is something incredible.

I loved every part of this series. It’s edgy, it’s relatable, it’s even humorous. As someone who has played and studying music for a big fraction of my life, i appreciated this so much. I really enjoyed how the writers were able to show the journey Lowell went through to find his passion again not only for the music but the writing as well! Lowell made a plan to write the article out of spite and to tear down John and Marty, but after finding his spark, that wasn’t a thought that was brought up again.

He wrote from the passion he was given from free jazz, and it benefited him as not just a lover of music, but as someone who’s been writing most of his life. If you’re someone who’s found themselves in a funk, this is definitely the comic for you. It was music to my eyes and ears.

Easily a 10/10