Review: Urban Buzz #0

Synchronicity is funny, isn’t it? A couple of days ago, I watched on tv a report about people who keep bees right in the middle of Paris. And then, that same week I read the first issue of Ned Hugar’s Urban Buzz, about a young gay guy who keeps bees in his flat—the Parisian beekeepers used flat buildings roofs for that, so Hugar’s protagonist must live in a pointed roof building. Anyway.

Urban Buzz¹ #0 is a rich, dense and colorful comic where the city is as much a character as the group of twenty-something friends whose everyday misadventures are chronicled here.
There’s Will, who hasn’t told anybody he has more hives than shelves in his flat, Blaine, who doesn’t seem to be able to connect with a cute waitress, and there’s Sunny, who works at a health food shop where Will sells his semi-illicit honey. The concrete landscape they inhabit is depicted with warm colors and a detailed style that manage to show the diversity of urban life, as you can see from the two panels below.

An example of Hugar's depiction of the flora and fauna of the city

Urban landscape à la Hugar

Will literally uses a smoke screen

Hugar’s style looks both classic and modern, and it’s no wonder he cites 60s animation as an inspiration. What’s very modern in the situations he portrays is the blend of gay and straight characters who are perfectly at ease with each other. And they certainly need to be, considering this comic is full of comedy based on their love woes. Hugar’s humor can be both visual and vocal: we learn that Sunny has taken part in a die-in…to get a certain website to add “Dislike” buttons; and we see Will using a cartoony smoke cloud to avoid facing an ex-boyfriend. I must admit there are a number of jokes that went completely over my head (or which I had to google to understand), but I’m sure younger (or more American) readers will get a kick out of them.

A good part of the comic is devoted to the unexpected encounter between Will and that same ex-boyfriend he was trying to avoid. Will’s insecurities are brought to the fore, but without demeaning the character. You laugh with the characters, not at the characters. Even Will’s love of bees is weaved into their dancing around each other, in a natural and charming way.

“Charming” is certainly a word I’d use to describe Urban Buzz #0. The fact that’s the art is, for me, more engaging than most comics’ I read, mainstream or otherwise, brings that comic to a whole another level. Which means I sincerely hope Ned Hugar will be able to find the time to write and draw more issues of his comic, and maybe even find a publisher for a collected edition that would offer him a larger visibility. He definitely deserves it.