Murder, murder, murder, and… chocolate. Wait, no, my mistake, it’s more murder.
Employee’s Pick
[DC] Hard Time Vol. 1 #7-12
Part of DC’s failed Focus imprint, Hard Time is the story of Ethan Harrow, a high schooler who gets mixed up in a school shooting and sentenced to fifty years to life in prison. In addition to being the youngest resident of the state pen, Ethan has a superpower – the ability to travel outside of his body as a powerful, invisible, wraith-like entity while unconscious – which he’s only starting to get the hang of. Thirty days in solitary confinement give him the opportunity for extensive testing of this ability.
Meanwhile, subplots. Neo-nazi Swift, who was savagely beaten by Ethan’s wraith form after he and his nazi buddies attacked Ethan, is out of the hospital and having difficulty adjusting while his injuries heal. His "girlfriend" – one of the book’s many peculiar characters, a man who goes by the name Cindy and dresses, acts, and is treated like a woman (more or less) – tries to help, but he pushes her away as he wishes he could push away his newfound weakness. Gangbanger Arturo ("Turo" for short) discovers his girlfriend is pregnant and goes about being responsible the only way he knows how, by diving deeper into gang life. Turo’s current term is relatively short, two to five years for pushing drugs, but continuing down his current path can only end in greater punishment or death. Deshon, driven mad by Gantry – an unhinged preacher who was accidentally killed by Ethan after the latter witnessed the former murder another prisoner – has taken up the sacred mop and collar and begun preaching in Gantry’s stead. His cellmate, Cole, the series most levelheaded character, is fed up and takes him in for a psychiatric evaluation.
Then we get to issue eight. I should mention the recap page. Every issue starts with a recap of the previous issue’s events, which is great for new readers or anyone reading the book on a monthly schedule who doesn’t want to reread the last issue to avoid getting lost. The recap page should be a feature in every comic book, and that it’s in most these days is one of the reasons I generally prefer modern comics. What you lose in new story space, you more than make up by not having to make characters deliver awkward expository dialogue that serves the same purpose anyways. After the recap, we find Ethan at home. He’s projected his wraith form all the way back to his house to pay dear ol’ mom a visit. Only she can’t see or hear him – no one can – and she has a visitor of her own, his lawyer, Jack, who she’s started dating. Before he can do anything, Ethan is roused by a guard, who feared for the boy’s life, and now he finds he can’t project anymore. As Ethan works to regain control of his power, Turo plots to isolate Swift, hoping to get in good with his gang, Los Diablos, via anti-nazi violence.
Issue nine introduces several new items. Curly, Ethan’s usually mild-mannered, if grouchy, cellmate, has occasional flashbacks to his time in the ‘Nam, and during one of these episodes he assaults Ethan. Fresh out of solitaire, Ethan goes from this to a run-in with the mad-scientist-looking self-proclaimed psychic known lovingly as "Fruitcake," who manages to pull Ethan’s wraith form out of his body while in a trance. Curly gets a visitor, a girl about Ethan’s age, but refuses to believe anyone could care about him after thirty years of nothing. Another girl Ethan’s age, one of the victims of the school shooting and now a patient in a sanitarium, is attempting to reach out to Ethan. More on her later.
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Curly has second thoughts about the mysterious girl known only as "Red," and decides to read the letter she brought him after all. Turns out she’s his granddaughter, which comes as quite a shock since as far as he knew he didn’t have kids. Skirting the depressing thought that his daughter, Red’s mother, died before he could meet her, the story moves along to Curly’s first attempt at using a computer, needing it in order to e-mail his grandkid. The mystery surrounding Ethan’s powers deepens into a full-blown plotline as various characters, despite their apparent insanity, make compelling arguments that the Sumerian warrior priestess Kaga na Yu’usha is somehow involved.
Jack proposes to Ethan’s mom, Curly gets banned from the computer room (old people and technology don’t mix), Ethan and Alyssa (the aforementioned school shooting victim) have a bizarre shared dream, and in a scene of unadulterated evil, a nazi stabs a teddy bear. Red comes to visit, and there’s more of everybody’s favorite: anti-nazi violence. Ethan celebrates his first birthday in the pen with a visit from Red. Turo gets married, and we learn all about Kaga na Yu’usha.
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I wish I could tell you to go out and buy Hard Time now, but like Major Bummer it ended all too soon. The nineteen issues there are (twelve in the first "season" and seven in "season two") are well worth reading, but it’s a little late for saving the book. Get it now or get it later, either way it’ll be a ridiculous bargain. Steve Gerber, best known for creating Howard the Duck, packs each issue full to bursting with plot, characterization, and dialogue that’s a pleasure to read. Brian Hurtt does an exemplary job on art. If I had to give his style a name, it’d be "realistic comic booky;" you have clean linework without exaggerated features, like those few cartoons where the creators remember animation doesn’t force you to have stylistic designs. The result is a thoroughly enjoyable comic.
Back Issues
The comics I review this week can only be called "new" in the loosest sense, so I’m temporarily dropping that label and lumping four books under this heading. New-Type Books will return next week with the latest Wonder Woman and god knows what else.
[Dark Horse] Zero Killer #2
I was looking through solicits earlier and man, you would not believe how many paranormal investigation comics there are. "What if magic was real? And what if the CIA were the only ones who knew about it? In M.I.T.H., the Magical Intelligence Tactical Headquarters control-" AUGGHH! "This is the untold story of SPOOKS, the secret branch of the government that protects humanity from things that go bump in the night. But when the king of all vampires forms an alliance with the deadliest of witches to launch an invasion of classic monsters-" NO! Quit it! Write something else, for pity’s sake! Is this because Hellboy got two movies? I know the BPRD and Hellboy comics aren’t successful enough on their own to warrant so many copycats. To coin a phrase, it’s all about the merchandise.
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Zero Killer has nothing to do with superparanaturality, but it uses another done to death concept: the postapocalyptic future. Popularized by the Mad Max series of films in the early eighties, it’s become a favorite shortcut of writers who want to tell stories in an old west, medieval, feudal or other historical style but in a modern setting. It’s easy to use it as a crutch to avoid research or a fully-realized world; if you blow society up, you don’t have to worry about it anymore. I’m not prepared to level such criticisms at Arvid Nelson’s writing after one issue, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he fell into the same trap. The high concept here is that, following a nuclear war in 1973, the US has devolved into a gang-based society with a military government that’s apparently none too concerned with serving the people. Standard boilerplate, but the execution’s good. We meet Zero, killer for hire, some supporting characters, and the plot gets in gear. Matt Camp’s photorealistic pencils and cinematic angles give the feeling of reading a movie. Nelson’s dialogue is solid, and while I’m not too fussed about how the plot turns out, I would like to see more from these characters. But it’s only a six-issue mini. Odd that there’s no mention of that in or on the comic.
[Fireman Press Ltd.] Scud the Disposable Assassin #17
This is only the second issue of Scud I’ve read, but I’ve seen enough to know it’s worth tracking down more. Apparently, our titular anti-hero is traveling through time with his galpal Sussudio. Why? I have no idea. Where? Some medieval fantasy land, where they’re summarily accosted by the local ruffian, who turns out to also be the local dragon. A quick scuffle later and they’re off to the dragon’s lair at the king’s behest. Basic fantasy plot, complete with princess-saving of a sort. Dan Harman’s writing is weak in some ways – the plot, patches of dialogue – but excellent for the most part. There’s great interplay between Scud and Sussudio, good jokes, and though it doesn’t seem logical for someone with her slight frame, I like that Sussudio can more than hold her own in a fight. Damsels in distress are way past dull. Creator Rob Schrab’s art matches the writing perfectly with a fun, cartoony style. It’s a light read, but you get your money’s worth.
[DC] A Man Called Kev #1
Garth Ennis. If you’ve read his work before, you know what to expect. You know it’ll be full of sex, gory violence, profanity, and wacky hijinks, and you know it’ll be good. With a few exceptions, Ennis likes to explore the same pet themes in the same style, and finds a way to hold your interest with every book. The end of this issue is brilliant. After having a caricature of a publisher go on about how "moved" she is by cliche plots where the main character triumphs over something unrelated while a relative tragically dies, he turns it on its head and makes it work for him as both self-parody and the sympathy ploy it’s meant to be.
Kev’s schtick is that he’s ex-S.A.S. (Britain’s Special Air Service) and has terrible luck in all things except staying alive, where a combination of his special forces training and surprisingly good luck bail him out of the many deadly situations he gets himself stuck in. This story starts with Kev being asked none too politely to get out of the country. Having little choice, he agrees, flying off to San Francisco to see an old friend, but someone decides that’s not enough and is out to kill him. While they’re at it, they might just kill everyone he knows. Carlos Ezquerra is on art and handles all the vital parts of working with Ennis well – gory bits, naughty bits, and reactions both subdued and extreme.
[DC] Human Target Vol. 3? #1
Christopher Chance is dead. Christopher Chance is Frank White, who is dead and being threatened by the mysterious Mr. Smith. Who is also Christopher Chance, trying to shock himself out of his self-delusion. Chance, the Human Target, is a private eye who solves cases by fully immersing himself in his client’s identity, to the point where he believes himself to be a different person. Often, he takes their place, putting himself in dangerous situations so they don’t have to. It’s all very bizarre, but that’s what Peter Milligan does. The problem is, he already did it in the Human Target miniseries. Two extremely similar stories, down to the part where his client’s wife falls in love with Chance, who’s like an improved version of their husband. Having read the mini before this takes most of the mystery out of it, as it’s blindingly obvious from the start that White is really Chance in disguise.
There’d be no mystery at all, but Milligan weaves an incredibly complex tale, with twists and turns enough to mislead anyone. But he doesn’t cheat; there are always clues, whether you see them on the first reading or not. Still, I wonder how much mileage there is in this concept. Identity issues make fertile ground for stories, and I can’t think of another character who can seriously ask himself "who am I?" and give a wrong answer more often than not. But it’s hard to root for a character who, by all indications, is hopelessly insane. You want him to quit his job before his mental health degenerates beyond the point of no return… or has it already? Is he even the real Christopher Chance? Is there a real Christopher Chance? All I’m sure of is that Milligan has written the best cipher ever. You couldn’t put just anyone in a Christopher Chance story, but you could put Chance in anyone’s story and he’d fit perfectly. That’s what he does. Come to think of it, that would explain Evil Max Lord (no relation to the real Max Lord, who is most certainly not evil).
Trade
[DC] Gotham Central Vol. 1
Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka write, Michael Lark draws yet another cancelled comic, this one an unglamorous look at the Gotham City Police Department, focusing on the Major Crimes Unit (MCU). Cross CSI/Law & Order fans with Batfans and you get… not so many fans. Go figure. It made it to forty issues, though, which is more than the other five titles in this column can or will claim.
We start with two detectives stumbling upon Mr. Freeze while investigating an unrelated crime. Being regular police, it doesn’t go well for them. One of the ways GC differs from other titles in the mainstream DCU is that, lacking any major characters in its regular cast, the people you read about month to month could be dead the next issue. It’s common for a book to start off with a character death to show how "edgy" it is, how everyone’s in constant danger, but few follow through on that. Arguably, GC doesn’t either, as familiar characters like Renee Montoya and Maggie Sawyer make it through the title’s run unscathed.
This is a character-driven book, and all assembled are three-dimensional. Anyone who’s "on camera" long enough to show it has a distinct personality, a unique voice. They need it; GC is packed with regular characters. Later volumes come with a two-page roster that’s invaluable in keeping everyone straight. The main focus in volume one, however, is on Marcus Driver, who survives the encounter with Freeze and becomes determined to do his job without the Batman’s help. The MCU goes up against Freeze and Firebug (a new incarnation of Bat-Rogue Firefly) with minimal Bat-assistance. They work to solve a kidnapping that turns into a murder, to deal with loss, to balance their jobs and their lives, professional relationships and personal, dignity and humility. This is the sort of book that ought to come to mind when you think of "grim and gritty realism." Not faux reality tacked onto Brightly Colored Spandex Adventures, but a genuine look at how police would deal with living in a world of superhumans. Mostly, they’d work harder.
Truncation
Hard Time – Overlooked gem.
Zero Killer – Decent miniseries.
Scud the Disposable Assassin – Fun indy comic.
A Man Called Kev – Nobody expects the ninja!
Human Target – Christopher Chance could be reading this right now and he wouldn’t know it.
Gotham Central – The one Bat-related regular series worth reading from start to finish.
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