American Virgin #4
reviewed by Elton Pruitt

American Virgin is one strange comic book.

Perhaps the strangest thing about it is why I don't get more excited about it. By rights, it should be at the top of my reading list each month. It's that good.

And yet, for reasons I can't explain, it's had to slowly insinuate itself into my consciousness as one of the best monthly reads on the stands. I forget about it – I forget how good it is, month to month. So the new issue languishes on my reading pile for several days, then I finally get around to reading it, and pow! It smacks me upside the head like it did last month, and the month before. And I smile, and say “thanks, may I have another?”

It's a strange little book, you see. It was billed as the story of Adam Chamberlain, a 20-year-old minister and modest celebrity whose book, Save Yourself to Save Yourself, launched a “virginity till marriage” movement. I didn't really know what to expect, but I definitely didn't expect the basic premise of Adam saving himself for his girlfriend, Cassie, to be completely blown up at the end of the first issue when she's murdered by terrorists.

The current issue (#4) concludes the first story arc of the series, and it goes out with a bang, as we see Adam and his sister, Cyndi, accompanying their mercenary guide to Swaziland in Africa, on a quest to retrieve his dead girlfriend's head. As the story unfolds, Adam continues to have erotic visions/hallucinations of Cassie and we witness his earnest struggle to come to terms with her death and its implications for his faith-based worldview.

It's compelling comic book storytelling, folks, and you should really be reading this book if you love comic books and want to see more non-superhero books on the market. Steven Seagle's writing style is perfectly matched with Becky Cloonan's art. Both are lean, sharp, and economical, focused on telling the story rather than wowing the reader with technical prowess.

Seagle's characterization of Adam is remarkably well-honed after only four issues. What appeared at first blush to be a one-dimensional, easily mockable character has evolved (although he would probably shudder at my choice of words) into a complex, unpredictable person whose world has remarkably more shades of gray in it than he ever expected.

And Cloonan's art reminds me, in a very good way, of Pia Guerra's work on Y: The Last Man. Like Guerra, Cloonan's style is not flash and dazzle and “God, if I only had a poster of that on my wall!” It's just clear, clean, simple visual storytelling that puts the story first and leads you along, effortlessly, into what comes next.

I can't recommend this book too highly. And now's the perfect time for you to jump on board, as a new story arc begins with the next issue.