Teenagers are very easy to write. You would think they would be difficult to write about because a lot of what they do seems so stupid that it's hard to comprehend, but it's actually a breeze and a lot of fun. Writing dialogue for teenagers is a rush, too, for a lot of reasons. They say hilarious, vulgar, rude things. They know more about pop culture, so cue the references. The best quotes I've ever written have all been in books about teenagers. This current series, the newest smash hit from Image, is more or less a mash-up of the Harry Potter books, Lord of the Flies, and the Japanese film Battle Royale. There's a mysterious school with secrets that a bunch of smart kids get sent to. They find themselves trapped and tortured for unknown reasons. The actual plot isn't very interesting; there are too many secrets still up in the air so far. Writer Nick Spencer is having a field day with the dialogue, though. The back-and-forth, the diatribes, the nasty insults, the jokes, it's all so entertaining, amusing, cute, and fun. Eventually the secrets will reveal themselves, but for now the issues seem to be just filled random acts of sadism (and the art, by Joe Eisma, is crisp but pretty elementary). The dialogue is so spot-on, though, that's it really hard to complain. For a book with a lot of blood on its hands, it sure is a hell of a lot of fun. ***
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