This is the first volume in Ed Piskor’s projected four-volume series about the early days of computer hacking. You can find lots of preview pages on Piskor’s Web site, and can order a copy of the book here.
And you should order a copy of the book, because it’s very good. As subject choices for debut (as in writing debut, since Piskor has done a lot of work with Harvey Pekar), self-published, multi-part graphic novels go, it’s an inspired one, and Piskor does an excellent job of guiding the reader through the ins and outs of the burgeoning hacker world without becoming bogged down in terminology or technology.
A good deal of Piskor’s success has to do with his narrow focus. Rather than attempt to do a documentary-style overview of the topic or an outright biography of one or two well-known hackers, Piskor instead opts to create a fictional, composite character, Kevin “Boingthump” Phenicle, based on several real-life hackers.
After an opening that announces Phenicle’s arrest and incarceration, Phreak quickly flashes back to his childhood, where it pretty much sequesters itself for the duration of the book.
A lonely orphan being raised by his grandmother, Kevin’s withdrawn, socially awkward demeanor — not to mention his interest in science and other dorky stuff — makes him an easy target for bullies. He has few friends save for wannabe rebel and classmate Winston Smith (Piskor’s 1984 reference is one of the few really awkward moments in the book).
Winston has discovered the world of phone “phreaking” and party lines, where people can basically make phone calls for free (this is set back in the days of the Ma Bell monopoly), and Kevin jumps into that world with both feet. He’s less interested in sticking it to the man, however, than he is in figuring out how it works. For him, technology, especially the kind of unknowable monolith that the telephone system represents, is a enormous puzzle just waiting to be solved. What’s more, we see years of being an outcast, combined with his own deep insecurities, have driven him deeper into his own world. Even though he does meet and make friends with a girl through a party line, there’s little hope that he’ll be able to pull himself out of his downward, isolationist spiral.
Piskor adopts a scattershot approach to the book, offering different viewpoints and perspectives on Kevin from a variety of sources, including his grandmother, Winston and Kevin himself. A barely disguised Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak even show up at one point.
With this approach, Piskor manages to evoke the reader’s sympathy for Kevin. It’s easy to understand why Kevin gravitates towards the world of computers and hacking and, as I said, Piskor manages to gently introduce us into the world of phreaking so that the reader doesn’t become bogged down in information. He also sticks to a strict four-panel grid throughout the book, keeping most of the characters at eye level, the better to identify with them I would imagine.
I realize I haven’t said much about Piskor’s art work. Though his faces and figures are cartoonish (Kevin has Little Orphan Annie eyes — again, another identifying technique), the backgrounds are well-detailed, giving the book a real sense of place and time. His penchant for somewhat stiff figures who occasionally seem hunched over serves him well here as it adds to Kevin’s overall sense of awkwardness and anxiety.
Phreak is a compelling, smart and very entertaining book. It’s easily one of the best books I’ve read in the new year thus far and I’m kind of crossing my fingers that Piskor will be able to get the second volume out of the gate before the 2008 comes to a close.
Wizzywig Volume 1: Phreak
by Ed Piskor
self-published
$15
