7 Days to Fame

http://www.ahpcomics.com/comics/7Days/index.htm
Writer: Buddy Scalera
Artists: Nick Diaz, Dennis Budd
Inkers: John Statema, Joe Caramagna
Colorists: Wilson Ramos, Marie Stamas
Letterers: Chris Eliopoulos, Joe Caramagna

Review by Larry Stanley

Reality TV sucks. This has been my opinion for years and it is not apt to change with the new miasma of shows that are coming up in the next few months. Most of them are not real, don't have just the average person, and are geared more to showing that winning is everything no matter what you have to do to win. Cheat, lie, backstab, humiliate, betray it makes no difference. You still get that 'Fifteen minutes of fame' and all the money so who cares, right?
Now, imagine a show that goes further then any reality show has gone before. Imagine if you were depressed, tired or simply wanted total control over your own life. Or death.
That is the premise of the new reality TV show where contestants go online to commit suicide so that they can become "famous."
Our two main characters are Marc and Richelle, two young, hungry television producers, who accidentally tape and broadcast the suicide of one of the guests. While this cost them their jobs at the station, an Internet website has come to them offering a job if they will continue to web cast more and more suicides.
The new show is called "7 Days to Fame" and people get to tell their life story, as long as they agree to kill themselves on this live web cast. It does not take long for the show to become an international hit, making Marc and Richelle rich, famous, and successful. Their dream comes true.
I got all three issues in for review just before I went on vacation to Missouri and it gave me a lot to think about while I was gone. First and most important, I was entertained. Yes, a non-superhero book entertained me. Go figure.
Truth to tell, I didn't expect this kind of writing in an independent or 'low budget' Comic. The story and script were on a par with a lot of movie scripts and better then a lot of stuff coming from the "Big Two" or Marv and Dee Cee.
A TV series that focuses on the death of a person, after getting the audience involved in the persons life? Wow. What scares me is, is that what we are coming to? It seems like every season TV has to get grittier and dirtier, reaching a little bit more each time against that barrier of 'good taste'.
One of the things I am most impressed with is the manner in which the entire story is not afraid to tackle an issue such as this. They go for the throat and don't want to let go until the last drop of emotion is wrung from the reader. Thanks, we needed that.
While the premise seems cynical and macabre, what counts most in reality TV is shock, fear, and ratings. And the more shock and fear you have the better. If you can add boobs and blood you got a gimmick that will surely rack the viewers in.
As it is, each week we get to see people eat live bugs, walk through snake infested swamp, treat love and marriage as a game, betray, lie and cheat themselves into great jobs and on one show they actually set out to destroy relationships for fun. Is 7 Days to Fame all that unrealistic?
Writer Buddy Scalera focuses on the morality of the situation without becoming preachy or appearing to ride on a Moralistic High Horse. He looks at the guests on the show with compassion and reason and tries to give a stronger look into the hearts of Marc and Richelle.
It is Richelle who seems to be having the most problems with her new life. And they come to full bloom when a successful race car driver announces he wants to die on their show. Why? Because he is bored.
And it is from this guest that Richelle sees where her own life has lead her and where it will continue
Dealing with ethical and legal consequences, Scalera is not afraid to talk about the 'What if?' in this story. Does the public want a show like this?
Consider this; Howard Stern wanted to have more freedom on his show so they moved to satellite radio. Movies are getting more and more explicit in their depiction of death and violence. Many shows that just ten years ago would have gotten an 'R' rating then would get a "PG' today. TV is actually turning into that 'Vast Wasteland' that was predicted in the 1950's while offering more and more sexually permissive and violent shows each season.
There are sites online that are close to the show in this story.
It does seem like the public could want a series like this. But do we actually need it? Does the desire to see blood and guts justify the production of it, or does it simply lower the viewer into a different level, where it will take more blood or boobs to satisfy them?
I guess that is why I still like my TV shows like Superman, The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, Dragnet and the like. Yes, they had violence but the good guy always won, the bad guy was always punished and no one cussed or got laid on screen.
And I am in the minority, I know. This is why Mr. Scalera and company have delivered a book that not only entertained me, but scares the crap out of me as well.
Thanks guys. Good work.