Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Sean Phillips
Published by Image Comics
I know, I know. He’s hardly “new” anymore and yet somehow, I still think of Ed Brubaker as the best of the “new writers” in comics. I have enjoyed anything and everything I’ve run across by him, whether in or out of the mainstream. Apparently, he and Sean Phillips have been doing a graphic novel series called Reckless, about a sort of private detective character with the unlikely name of Ethan Reckless. The third volume, Destroy All Monsters, a buzzword title for all of us of a certain age if ever there was one, is the first one I’ve read and it’s another winner!
First there’s the in-your-face front cover, bringing to mind—and purposely, no doubt—all of those hundreds of over-the-top ‘70s pulp adventure paperbacks that could be found on the stands at F.W. Woolworth. Only this story is set in the ‘80s.
But, speaking of the ‘70s, having just read the entire run of the early ‘70s comic strip Friday Foster for an upcoming Back Issue article, I have to say that Ethan is pretty much a lookalike—shaggy blond do and all—for that series’ male lead, photographer Shawn North. In fact, there’s one image of Ethan with a camera that really reminded me of the resemblance.
That all works in his favor, though, as, like Shawn, Ethan is an imperfect good guy who’ll go to the mat when needed for his platonic female assistant. In Ethan’s case, it’s Anna, about as different from Friday’s black fashion model type as one can get. Anna is short and kind of mousy, with glasses and variously colored hair. She’s a lot younger than Ethan, too, but also a lot smarter. But there’s a deep affection between the two characters.
Having once had a much younger platonic female bff, with glasses and sometimes purple hair, I could easily relate on that level.
Phillips’ semi-photorealistic art goes so well with Brubaker’s writing on these types of stories that it’s hard to imagine a better modern writer/artist team. Ethan looks stalwart and Anna is cute. The sex and violence show enough to get the points across without being overly self-indulgent, which is more than can be said for a number of creators these days.
But to me, this is a writer’s book. Brubaker’s plot has Ethan—an aging California surfer who lives and works in an abandoned theater with his own collection of classic films in 35mm!—and Anna—the girl whose father used to be the projectionist there—taking a case that seems simple and very much morally the right thing to do…only to find out the hard way that few things are really what they seem.
Brubaker’s story is told by Ethan in evocative prose, in the past tense, giving a real sense of reading an actual novel. Phillips’ art works to fill in between the paragraphs, so to speak. It all leads up to a most unexpected ending that makes me not only want to see the next volume but also to find the previous two!
There are no giant Japanese monsters in Destroy All Monsters but there are a couple of flawed humans in whom you feel really invested when all is said and done. Creating memorable characters is, of course, a large part of successful fiction of any type, and Ed Brubaker does it exceedingly well. Not bad for a “new guy.”
Booksteve recommends!
