Grim and gritty
It is probably the worst time of year for me to do this, but after months of sporadic reading, I finally swept into my comic book shop for a flurry of comic book buying. I justified this spending indiscretion after purchasing most of my holiday gifts for family and still coming out slightly ahead due to some bargain deals.
The books I purchased were mostly catch ups on favorite titles with one new one added in. I found them to be mostly dark, noirish works as well. (Oh the holiday cheer!)
Here is the list:
- Incognito, the trade paperback by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
- Criminal: The Sinners, Issues 1 and 2 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
- Detective Comics, #858-859 by Greg Rucka and JH Williams III
- Stumptown #1, Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth
- Irredeemable #8, Mark Waid and Peter Krause
So, as you can see, none of these titles are full of holiday cheer, nor can I see a one of them retelling the touching Hallmark Hall of Fame movie “A Dog Named Christmas,” in their super holiday spectacular issues. Snort.
I can honestly say though that none of the books disappointed a lover of noir.
There were some odd parallels though in the readings. The use of “twins” as a story device in Incognito, Detective, and the most recent issue of Irredeemable was sort of striking. I wonder if these guys read each other, or work through a collective hive mentality? I mean, don’t get me wrong, the use of the twin as a plot device was used admirably in all three works, it was just weird that three titles, released within a relatively close time frame would all take the same route with similar outcomes to our protagonists. (Think the Overkill Brothers power leeching/Scylla and Charybdis situation) And as far as Batwoman is concerned think of the Kane twins/Scylla and Charybdis feeding the rage of the living superhero sibling. Hmmm. . . I think I have a bold, dark redux for the Wonder Twins to pitch.
And moving on from there, honestly, Rucka’s fascination with lesbian protagonists for both Detective and Stumptown was almost a little too much. I mean I see the allure of playing with gender and sexual idenity dynamics within a genre that is generally chauvinistic, but I don’t know, reading the titles back to back makes the thread seem to be a bit overdone, especially from the same author. Plus, well, even with female lesbian leads the genre is still pretty chauvinistic, so I’m not quite sure what is challenged or accomplished beyond novelty.
With that said though, Stumptown in particular read as a good genre piece along the lines of Chandler or Chinatown without the gender tweak. Additionally, Batwoman would be an awesome character read without ever knowing Catherine Kane’s sexual orientation. Just saying.
