Resistance A graphic novel

Scottish crime writer McDermid (the Tony Hill series) takes a stab at bio-noir in this spare but riveting graphic novel tracking a pandemic. Zoe, a dreadlocked freelance journalist, foreshadows "this was where the end began" from ground zero: A Northumberland music festival where tainted sausages may spell humanity's demise. Zoe tracks the bacterium from infected rock stars to the wider world "like ripples from a stone thrown into a pond" while trying to ignore the possibility that a friend may have been the cause. A less-developed secondary plot tracks Dr. Siddiqui, an infectious disease researcher muzzled by an arrogant, clueless bureaucracy, who provides Zoe with a handy "idiot's guide" to how greedy pharmaceutical companies and antibiotic-stuffed animals helped create a killer plague. McDermid rockets the catastrophe along as the mutating and species-jumping bacterium overwhelms a phlegmatic medical response. Briggs's grungy and off-kilter figures visually counterpoint the clinical plot, while her ashy charcoal backgrounds and faux-medieval frames suggest a cyclical human drama. Though missing the gravitas of recent disaster disease fiction like Lawrence Wright's The End of October, this chilling story may prove oddly comforting for Covid-era readers--it's a glimpse of a far worse potential future. Agent: George Lucas, InkWell Management. (June)

Writer McDermid and illustrator Briggs show a plague tearing through all aspects of modern life--personal, professional, political--leaving plenty of apocalyptic blame to go around. For decades the world has been stewing in a volatile mix of antibiotic overuse, industrialized farming, profit-driven pharmaceuticals, and public ignorance. The danger finally boils over at a music festival in the Scottish countryside, when several musicians and concertgoers come down with a bad case of what at first is dismissed as food poisoning but eventually reveals itself to be much, much worse. Like any good disaster narrative, the story follows several key figures making their ways through the carnage: intrepid reporter Zoe Beck, who had abandoned "real" news in favor of more popular cultural pieces like her coverage of the doomed music festival; Sam the Sausage Sandwich Man, the proprietor of the food truck that appears to have been the source of this outbreak, as he defends his reputation; infectious disease expert Dr. Aasmah Siddiqui, who works with a loose affiliation of global medical professionals who have thrown off the strictures of corporate funding and individual ambition in a desperate attempt to understand the new disease; as well as government officials who are mainly enraging with their prioritization of systems over people. McDermid skillfully builds pathos for the individuals wrestling with their dire circumstances while also baking in enough science to make the proceedings feel frighteningly plausible. Briggs composes fascinating pages and panels that have a mixed-media feel, layering her realistic figures over maps and medical diagrams, invoices and intake forms, tarot cards and plague paintings. The effect puts the story on a historical continuum, which is comforting in the sense that humanity has faced similar disasters in the past but also chilling with its reminder that history is full of cataclysms and the current age is hardly exempt. A powerful, unique look at the benign origins of catastrophe. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.