Where to Start with Jeff Lemire? (Comic Book Creator Deep Dive)

Jeff Lemire is my favourite comic book creator.

I’ve binge-read almost everything Lemire has produced and have yet to find a work I didn’t completely fall in love with.

And that is some feat as Lemire, dubbed the “hardest working man in comics” by Vulture Magazine, is prolific as heck. One year Lemire wrote eight books and drew two of them, but that proved too much so he scaled it back to writing “only” three books a month and drawing one.

You’d think that much output would result in the occasional substandard comic book, but the comic book community is in agreement – everything Lemire puts out is gold.

The Ontario-born cartoonist has the rare ability to produce a large quantity of compelling comic books without sacrificing quality. And he’s able to write for a wide range of publishing houses and in a diverse array of genres.

Whether Lemire is penning nostalgic graphic novels that wrestle with themes of family, loss, and isolation or kicking ass with his conceptions of popular Marvel, DC, and Valiant characters, the storyteller is always on form.

So I thought I’d do a deep-dive into the work of Jeff Lemire.

To read Lemire’s body of work is to experience the breadth and depth of the entire comic book medium and is a true treat. Whether you’re just getting into graphic novels for the first time or you’re a seasoned comic book connoisseur, you will love the work of Jeff Lemire.

**Comic Book Creator Deep Dive: Jeff Lemire (Season 1, Episode 1)**

For this deep dive, we’ll be reviewing and focusing on the following Jeff Lemire works:

Essex County Review

The Essex Country Trilogy is one of Jeff Lemire’s first comics, an early work that is considered by many his magnum opus.

In one of my favourite Jeff Lemire works we see the writer and artist laying out the themes that he will return to again and again: small-town Canadian farming community life, family, parent-child relationships, isolation, secrets and hidden stories, the fallacy of memory and fear of losing memory, grief, and reconciliation.

Many readers believe Essex County to be more autobiographical than it really is. Lemire has said that the work is only 30% autobiographical and that the reason for the mistaken belief comes from the immediate raw art style.

The way Lemire renders the simple black-and-white inking gives a tender, sentimental, and intimate effect that makes it impossible not to imagine the hand that drew the works. It’s rough, scratchy, draft-like nature that makes use of light and space is what gives this story such a personal feel.

I believe that another reason Essex County feels so personal is because readers can see their own griefs and family issues mirrored in the story.

It’s not just the dialogue that is beautifully conceived, but where Lemire chooses to place absence of dialogue. Silence speaks volumes. We feel what’s between the words as intensely as the cold wind of a Canadian winter.

Critic Steve Duin said that when Princeton offers graduate degrees in the graphic novel in twenty years’ time, ‘students will be writing their Masters’ theses on Lemire’s Essex County trilogy’. It’s exactly that kind of graphic novel.

Haunting, poignant, and a masterclass in the comic form itself. It’s the Citizen Kane of comic books. There are few better starting-points when it comes to getting into the work of Jeff Lemire.

You can be moved by Jeff Lemire’s Essex County here.

Sweet Tooth Review

The Near Mint Podcast described Sweet Tooth as “Mad Max meets Bambi”. This dystopian post-apocalyptic work also has undertones of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.

Humanity is dying out and the only hope left is in these animal-human hybrids. We follow Gus, a young boy with deer features, as he flees across the Nebraskan wilderness, with a Punisher-like figure called Jeppard, from those who want to tear him apart.

Even though Sweet Tooth is science-fiction, the comic is still very much grounded in the themes Lemire loves to explore in his more slice-of-life realistic works.

This was my first Jeff Lemire work and the comic that kicked off my obsession with his writing and art-style.

Lemire’s aesthetic is one of the most unique I have encountered. If you’ve only read mainstream Marvel and DC comics, shying away from anything approaching the indie or avant-garde, you might take some time to get used to this art style, but I was personally enamoured with it from the start. Lemire’s signature style is one that eminently suits his story choice and narrative pacing.

You also can’t talk about Sweet Tooth and not talk about Jose Villarrubia’s colours, which are so lush, so bold, rich, and full that you will want to frame every panel and hang it in an art gallery.

If you love the colouring in Sweet Tooth, you’ll definitely want to follow this book up with Trillium, which is also sees Lemire in his element as writer and illustrator and Villarrubia is his element as colourist.

You can be swept away by Jeff Lemire’s Sweet Tooth here.

Gideon Falls Review

Gideon Falls might just be my favourite Jeff Lemire work.

Of course, when you get into the top five Jeff Lemire books it’s so hard to choose.

Gideon Falls is the collaboration of one of my favourite writer and artist duos working today: Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino, who also worked together on Old Man Logan and Green Arrow.

You also have the tremendously talented Dave Stewart bringing the gritty nightmarish half-noir half-horror vibe to life in the colours and Steve Wands (who also worked with Lemire on Royal City) making sure the design and lettering scratch deep scars into your soul.

Gideon Falls is all about an otherworldly barn reappearing and disappearing in a field, causing death and madness as it blinks in and out of existence.

This is creepy psychological horror done well, just like in the old days, and not only is it well-suited to the long-form serial format, but has already assured its place as a classic of the genre even before its finished its run.

Lemire is incredibly astute when it comes to crafting psychologically compelling characters, like the washed-up priest whose bad behaviour moves him from parish to parish, and Sorrentino and Stewart are a graphic dream team – if someone can explain to me how their art style so magnificently achieves the effect of simultaneously connecting me with the characters while dissociating me from the environment I would greatly appreciate it.

You can get hooked on Gideon Falls here.

Royal City Review

Royal City is one of the most intense family dramas I have ever read.

Reading Royal City feels like you’ve just had a series of severe arguments with your family. You become so immersed in the lives of these toxic individuals who are brought together by the recent stroke and coma of the father that you can’t help but put your own real-world problems into perspective.

Royal City is what would happen if you could frame a soap opera in the Guggenheim Museum.

Just because the characters are toxic doesn’t mean you can’t relate or even love them. That is one of the cornerstones of Lemire’s artistic genius. Whether he is working as sole writer and illustrator, as he does in works like Royal City, Essex County, and Trillium, or whether he’s working collaboratively, Lemire always makes his characters supremely human. You may dislike them, but you can’t help but understand them.

I love how every line of dialogue is charged with emotion. I love how expertly Lemire blends past and present and how his watercolour-esque aesthetic lends itself perfectly to that. I also love how elegantly Lemire makes meta-commentary on his other works with physical reminders of his comics Sweet Tooth and Trillium hidden throughout like Easter eggs on a DVD.

Another cool thing about Royal City is the accompanying Spotify playlist so you can read while listening to songs that Lemire picked for the soundtrack.

Read Essex County first and if that tugged at your heartstrings, the logical next step is to pick up a copy of Royal City.

This is one of the few family dramas where I felt like I couldn’t take a breath until I reached the end.

Watch the family drama of Jeff Lemire’s Royal City unfold here.

Trillium Review

Trillium, another example of what Lemire can do working as sole writer and illustrator, has a special place in my heart.

Firstly, I love how experimental the form is. There’s a section of this book where you actually have to flip the comic upside down over and over in order to read the story. This idea of you the reader turning the world of the story on its head is simply superb.

I also love how Lemire executed the theme of the story. Trillium is about a pair of star-crossed lovers separated by space and time – one is a botanist researching a species of plant that may hold the key to humanity’s survival in the year 3797, the other is an English explorer leading an exploration through the jungles of Peru in search of the Lost Temple of the Incas in 1921.

Trillium is a love story than transcends time. Having experimented with this type of story myself I know how incredibly difficult it is to pull off, but Lemire accomplishes it masterfully.

This is Lemire’s first attempt at sci-fi world building (not counting Sweet Tooth, which is set in our current landscape) and I’d call his first attempt a great success.

I loved the alien life forms, their language, the philosophy that pervades how they hold themselves. I love the inter-dimensional relationships. And I really love how heady the colouring makes me feel.

Reading Trillium feels like you’ve ingested the same magical plant as the characters.

If you enjoyed Shinkai Makoto’s Your Name, Trillium is a must read.

Explore the universe in Jeff Lemire’s Trillium here.

Descender Review

If I had to pick just one book from Jeff Lemire’s catalogue that felt like a luxury art piece, it would have to be Descender.

Dustin Nguyen’s lush watercolour artwork is the perfect match for a cosmic space opera that tells the tale of a young android named TIM-21 who, perhaps holding the secrets to the mass-destruction caused by the Harvesters, becomes the most violently wanted robot in the universe.

I’ve always been a sucker for a decent space opera and, having seen quite a number of great ones, I can say that Descender ranks up there as one of my favourites.

Lemire and Nguyen manage to create a story that is at once sweeping and intimate. We feel the enormity of the universe the characters are operating in, but we also feel the heart and soul of TIM-21 – a feat all the more laudable given the fact that TIM-21 is not human.

It doesn’t matter how fantastical the subject matter, Lemire is always able to ground his stories in the deeply personal. He does this in many ways, but my favourite technique is how he utilises dreamscapes, often juxtaposed beside waking life except drained of colour, to show a character’s deepest fears and desires.

Experience a space opera with a heart of cosmic proportions with Descender here.

Animal Man Review

Jeff Lemire’s run of Animal Man is easily one of my favourite DC runs of all time.

If someone curious about getting into DC comics for the first time asked me where to start, I would point them in the direction of this Animal Man run, which is part of the New 52 reboot, DC’s 2011 relaunch which includes Grant Morrison’s Superman, Scott Snyder’s Batman, and Geoff Johns’ Aquaman.

You’ve got Lemire penning the story, Travel Foreman as the main artist, and Lovern Kindzierski on colours – a dream trio that makes a combination reminiscent of Junji Ito’s absurdist Japanese horror manga.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that because Animal Man is a DC superhero comic that it will be all light and innocent. Animal Man is the stuff of nightmares and many panels made my mouth gape open in awed terror.

The only thing about Animal Man that felt like a superhero comic to me was the breakneck pacing. Other than that, we’re watching a horrific descent into madness that mirrors the inner conflict of Buddy Baker, a conflict that’s tied to one of Lemire’s greatest muses: family.

Although Animal Man is terrifying, I believe it accomplishes this due to the comedy complimenting the most horrific scenes. The self-aware situational humour paradoxically makes it easier to lose yourself in this absurdist horror.

You can get swept up in the heroics of Animal Man here.

Black Hammer Review

Black Hammer is another contender for not only my favourite Jeff Lemire comic but one of my favourite comics of all time.

This ongoing series is a commentary on superheroes and the comic book medium itself and was rightfully awarded the Eisner for Best New Series in 2017.

Black Hammer blends and matures the themes of Lemire’s more biopic works and family dramas with his love of superheroes: small town claustrophobia, unrequited love and loss, and the difficulties of confronting the traumas of the past while dealing with an unpleasant present.

Black Hammer follows a bunch of superheroes from the Golden Age of comics who are stranded and unable to leave a small town, stuck there for a decade due to an invisible force, unable to be heroes anymore.

Each hero is an archetypical representative of real world comic books.

Abraham Slam is part Batman, part Captain America. Golden Gail (my favourite character), an old woman trapped in a child’s body, represents Captain Marvel. Barbalian is part Martian Manhunter, part David Bowie from The Man Who Fell To Earth. And I’ll leave it up to you to decipher the equally compelling characters of Colonel Weird and Madame Dragonfly.

There is so much I could say about this series, but the thing that perhaps impresses me the most is how Dean Ormston managed to commit some of the most nuanced and rich artwork despite suffering a brain haemorrhage during the writing of the series. A true inspiration!

You can become addicted to Black Hammer here.

Wolverine: Old Man Logan Review

There was a lot of hype in the Marvel community when Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino, with colourist Marcelo Maiolo, took on Old Man Logan. And the hype is completely due, because this is a phenomenal run.

You don’t need any prior knowledge of other runs when coming to Old Man Logan, so dive right in and enjoy.

I love Wolverine and I’d say this is easily my favourite Wolverine story. It’s dark, it’s gritty, and it’s got a hell of a lot of heart. It’s also such a delight seeing all your other superhero favourites (I won’t spoil who turns up).

The story basically follows what happens when Logan travels back in time from a dystopian Mad Max future and decides to kill every villain that would threaten his family in the future.

The first issue contains one of my favourite rain-slicked urban fight scenes and one of my favourite climaxes. I knew it was coming and I smiled all the way up until the payoff.

You can join the fight with Old Man Logan here.

The Underwater Welder Review

The Underwater Welder is another one-off volume that sees Lemire take charge as writer and illustrator.

As Damon Lindelof says in the introduction, The Underwater Welder is ‘the most spectacular episode of The Twilight Zone that was never produced.’ And the story certainly lives up to that description.

I was always a huge fan of programs like The Twilight Zone and Tales of the Unexpected, so it’s no surprise Lemire’s haunting story about an underwater welder on an oil rig off the coast of Nova Scotia enraptured me so.

I won’t tell you what happens in the story, but suffice to say that one day the main character, Jack, goes a little too deep, with supernatural results.

On the surface, The Underwater Welder is a spooky tale reminiscent of Stephen King’s The Langoliers, but really it’s a poignant meditation on the nature of memory, fatherhood, and death, one that we’ve come to expect from the writer who brought us the likes of Essex County and Royal City.

I’d recommend The Underwater Welder as one of the works that would be most effective at not only getting someone into Jeff Lemire comics but into the comic book medium itself. It’s also one of the few comics that had the power to make me choke up.

Dive deep with Jeff Lemire’s The Underwater Welder here.

Green Arrow Review

Green Arrow is another great introduction to the world of DC, especially when you opt for Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino’s gorgeously drawn, beautifully told run.

Whenever you see this pair of names on a comic book cover, you know you’re in for something special.

If you loved Gideon Falls and Old Man Logan (and how could you not?) you’ll want to explore their Green Arrow.

You’ll want to grab the deluxe edition as the artwork is so gorgeous, you’ll really want to pore over it, take it in, and appreciate it.

You can refine your archery skills with Green Arrow here.

Moon Knight Review

You might need to know some of Moon Knight’s history as a Marvel character, preferably reading a few of the other runs (Warren Ellis’ volume gives the background to Lemire’s), in order to get the most out of this one. But it’s well worth it as Moon Knight is a fascinating character.

Having said that, you can still derive a lot of enjoyment from Jeff Lemire’s Moon Knight run even if you don’t know much about the character and it’s not particularly connected to the other parts of the Marvel Universe.

The psychological complexity of the main character speaks for itself, the story will blow your mind, and Greg Smallwood’s art is a complete knockout.

Get your mind blown with Moon Knight here.

Bloodshot Reborn Review

Bloodshot Reborn is my personal favourite of Lemire’s straight superhero works.

This run was my introduction to the Valiant universe, causing me to branch out beyond DC and Marvel, and go on a huge binge of works like Harbinger and X-O Manowar.

The comic is about a man who has had nanites injected into his bloodstream by a top secret government program, which turn him into an unstoppable killing machine.

I related so hard with the main character, who is tortured by demons, wrestling over how to find meaning in the world, and was delighted for the entire run.

Mico Suayan fast became one of my favourite comic book artists as he really knows how to create compelling characters and atmosphere.

This is a compulsively bingeable series and a must-read as part of your deep dive into the work of Jeff Lemire.

Blow away the bad guys with Bloodshot Reborn here.

**Jeff Lemire Deep Deep Dive**

Already binged through all of that fantastic Jeff Lemire reading material?

Well, there’s still plenty more Lemire goodness to explore.

If you’ve read all of that, my next recommendation for you would be to explore some of these works:

The Nobody: a fantastic retelling of H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man.
Secret Path: Lemire collaborated with musician Gord Downie, who created an accompanying album for this gorgeous work. Check out the film version if you want to weep.
Plutona: Lemire partnered up with artist Emi Lenox for this tale about a group of kids finding the dead body of a superhero.
AD: After Death: Jeff Lemire and Scott Snyder created a beautiful, ambitious, deeply poetic and much-loved graphic novel with this.
Roughneck: If you loved Essex County and the themes explored there, you have to check out this story, which received much-deserved mainstream acclaim.
Extraordinary X-Men: Apparently Lemire didn’t have a huge amount of creative freedom with this run, but I love what he managed to pull off despite that.
All-New Hawkeye: I love Hawkeye and although Matt Fraction’s run is held up as the best, I believe Lemire’s run is every bit as special.

My top 5 favourite Jeff Lemire works ranked

Each of Jeff Lemire’s work could take the top spot as someone’s favourite.

And I’ve seen each of his works argued compellingly for the place of number one.

My top five list and your top five list will be different because we all bring our own background, personality, and tastes to each story.

Everything Lemire writes resonates with me, but some works resonate stronger than others.

These are my favourite masterworks from Jeff Lemire:

Honestly any one of these could take my number one spot.

Each gave me something different.

And each story has tremendous re-read value.

That’s the deep dive for Jeff Lemire!

Let me know you’re favourite works by this wonderful storyteller.

And which comic book writer do you want to see a deep dive of next? (I’m thinking Brian K. Vaughan, but open to suggestions)