I’d found the first issue of Howard Hardiman’s The Lengths to be both disturbing and powerful, with its portrayal of a young man (well, a young, anthropomorphized dog, more exactly) as a hustler. In the second and third issue of the series, we learn more about the events which lead him to this point in his life.
The four guys: James, Eddie, Dan and Krys
In the second issue, Eddie’s is tentatively starting a relationship with Dan (that’s him on the cover of that issue), a guy he’s recently reconnected with and whom he knew from before he’d begun hustling. Which doesn’t make things easier for Eddie, to say the least. Hardiman uses this opportunity to show us a few pieces of Eddie’s life from before, when he had a boyfriend named James and Dan had his own boyfriend named Krys. We also see Eddie’s meeting with a zine photographer for whom he poses, a first, unpredictable step toward a more complicated life.
Eddie’s narrating voice, which accompanies us throughout the issue, can be both self-absorbed and introspective, which gives us a stronger feeling of him as a multi-dimensional person.
Nelson, on the third cover
The third issue shows Eddie meeting Nelson, a bodybuilder who offers to open up the doors of escort service. Why does Eddie accept? Attraction for the buff Nelson? Need to prove something to himself? Need of money?
It’s a sign of the quality of the writing that the reader doesn’t feel he’s presented with only one point of view, even though the narration is driven by Eddie’s inner voice. Hardiman writes a character who’s capable of self-reflection but not of taking actions to remedy things he’s not happy with in his life. A completely relatable situation for any reader and a complex, engaging view of the character.
Eddie and Nelson, with Dan in the insert
The storytelling also gets more complex. In fact, it gets downright fragmented, which can make it a bit hard to follow sometimes, but certainly echoes Eddie’s state of mind. There are cuts between different periods without any visual clues, inserts from two thought lines, things like that. And it does work very well: the reader feels he’s been given a view into Eddie’s mental landscape, an uncomfortable but involving position.
Judging from the three issues I’ve read, I think that The Lengths will read even better as a complete work. The characters are getting more and more rounded, the storytelling more adventurous, and Howard Hardiman has proven that he has a strong grasp of what makes reading a comic exciting.
You can see previews of these issues on Howard Hardiman’s website here, and you can buy these comics here.
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