Black Summer (Avatar) [collects #1-8]
w. Warren Ellis; a. Juan Jose Ryp
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New reader? | |
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Non-comics reader? |  |
Ellis throws out more concepts in passing in most of his tales than most writers use in a year’s worth of writing. Here we have a band of supers, the “Seven Guns,” all enhanced with tech, but over time falling aside into retirement. Until John Horus, the team’s founder, kills the President, and all hell breaks loose. Now the remaining Guns have to fend off the army, decide what to do about Horus, the strongest of them all — and whether they are called to do anything at all about the increasingly violent situation.
So, yes, lots of violence, lots of high concept, lots of philosophizing dialog, lots of cynical politics — pretty standard Ellis writing, with more than a touch of the epic tragedy to it. the art is Avatar’s usual standard — well-polished but workmanlike, with enough detail to count every wrinkle and bubble in the spilled guts and burnt flesh.
Recommended, though not for the squeamish.
The Boys, Vol. 2, “Get Some” (Dynamite) [collects #7-14]
The Boys, Vol. 3, “Good for the Soul” (Dynamite) [collects #15-22]
The Boys, Vol. 4, “We Gotta Go Now” (Dynamite) [collects #23-30]
w. Garth Ennis; a. Darick Robertson
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New reader? | |
| Art | |
Non-comics reader? |  |
In contrast with Ellis — who deals with many of the same power/responsibility issues found here — Ennis just has more fun with the subject, a cocky smirk on his face as his “Boys” — a CIA (barely) super-team that covertly rides rein on the corporate-sponsored supers of this world. In a world where supers are treated like super-stars (and treat everyone else, each other included, like dirt), the Boys keep them in check, much to Ennis’ mocking glee.
The story is mostly told from the perspective of “Wee Hughie,” a newly minted Boy, modeled physically after Simon Pegg and the usually-but-not-always naif on the team. In contrast, there’s a strong subplot following along a newly promoted super-heroine to the exalted ranks of the Seven, where she learns that a perky smile, a virtuous nature, and a desire to help humanity are not what Earth’s pre-eminent super-team is about.
Naturally, these two find each other, without knowing each others’ secrets.
Meanwhile, over the bloody pages of these books (violence leavened with plenty of sex and other bodily fluids in Ennis’ iconoclastic style) we have a prominent hero implicated in the murder of a gay youth; a Russian mobster trying to grow a super-army to take over the country; the secret behind how 9-11 turned out in the Boys’ world (answer: not prettily); and an investigation into the mutant family called the G-Men (and other related G-teams).
Ennis mixes in personal tales in all of this. Each of the Boys has secrets, as things that have brought them to this career. It adds a simple touch that’s missing in Ellis’ more intetionally grave story — and which masks that both of them treat questions of power and corruption equally seriously. Only Ellis does it with a glower, and Ennis with a smirk and a whiskey chaser.
Highly recommended, though not for the queasy.
(Volume 1 of the series was reviewed here.)
Listening to: Korngold, Erich, “Robin and Marian” (Adventures of Robin Hood))