Criminal: Go noir!

In Gotham Central, Brubaker explored the lives of regular cops in Gotham City and what it was like living under the shadow of Batman. With the Criminal series, he goes one up. First off, there’s no Batman or any other superhero/vigilante. Second, it’s a story about crime from the criminal’s point of view. According to Brubaker, he wanted to portray “criminals who, as far as their morality goes, they steal, or kill, but they're good people somehow anyway.”

An ongoing monthly (now in its 3^rd year), Criminal brings together an interesting cast of characters. You’ve pickpockets, hit-men, femme fatales, crooked cops, forgers, get-away drivers… just about every type of criminal archetype you can think of. Furthermore, the series focuses on not one, but two generations of criminals. The result is a fraternity that hangs out at the same bars, know of each other’s expertise, know each others history, may not necessarily work together, but know the same people.

The first volume consists of two stories told across ten issues.

The first story, Coward, is the story of Leo – a man who’s great at planning complex jobs, but chooses to remain a pickpocket. Leo lives his life by a few inviolable rules: never carry a gun, never take a chance and never pick a fight. He has no qualms about running away from a job if there’s the slightest chance of something going wrong. The storyline revolves around a heist that goes wrong. The second story, Lawless, tells the story of Tracy Lawless, a soldier who goes AWOL when he comes to know that his brother was killed back home and sets out to find out who killed his brother and why.

If there’s one thing better than these classic noir storylines and characters, it’s the art of Sean Phillips. The stories may be a bit clichéd, but their depiction makes them realistic and believable. It’s dark, gritty and makes you feel like you’re watching an on-screen drama unfold. The pacing is brilliant and the writing doesn’t go overboard on swearing (which often takes away from the realism of crime thrillers).

This is what I liked about it: You know it’s a noir; you know things aren’t going to have a happy ending; you empathise with some part of every character; and you cannot put it down. And if, like me, you’re a noir fan, then the last pages of each comic hold a treat for you. Brubaker and other writers have written about their own noir favourites in books and movies! Do read those… it’s the ultimate list of movie/book recommendations in the genre. 

Oh... almost forgot... the series got the Eisner in 2007 for the 'Best New Series'. 

Gotham Central: A bottom-up view

If I mentioned the words 'Gotham City' to you, what would come to your mind? Batman, for certain. Followed by Joker? And then perhaps Two-Face, Bane, Riddler, Penguin and a slew of other villains? And if you're not just a 'pure superhero' fan, you'll probably think of Commissioner Gordon and perhaps even Barbara.

But there is one group of characters who're present in almost every Batman comic and are largely ignored by readers: the men and women of the Gotham City Police Department.

That is what Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka decided to give readers a glimpse of in 2002 when they approached DC Comics with a story idea whose debut was nominated for an Eisner and the series eventually bagged an Eisner (Best Serialized Story) and a Harvey (Best Single Issue or Story) in 2004.

So... is it a cops 'n robbers thing? No.

Gotham Central is about good cops in a crime-ridden city. Detectives who take pride in their work and put their lives on the line everyday. People who don't have the gadgets or fancy cars and take a bullet when they have to. They're men and women with families to go back to. And they deal with the same criminals as Batman.

A refreshing change from the regular Batman comics, Gotham Central breaks ground by taking readers from the bird's eye-view of Gotham that Batman enjoys to the grit and grime of crime-fighting at the ground level. It tells of the personal losses and victories of the Special Crimes Unit (SCU) - a unit comprised of cops hand-picked by Gordon before he retired.

The series is split into two parts: the night shift (written by Brubaker) and the day shift (by Rucka). Like in a regular precinct, each has its own officers following up on their cases. The art for both storylines was done by Michael Lark. The main characters are a good sprinkling of established identities (like Montoya, Crispus Allen, Maggie Sawyer, Harvey Bullock & Corrigan) which regular readers of Batman are familiar with as well as some new ones. Batman himself, is restricted to the backdrop... a shadow that looms large over their heads and makes brief appearances.

Gotham Central is a rare no-holds-barred true-to-life series where the stories are closely tied to the personal lives of the characters and goes the extra mile to establish the chemistry between them. Where other writers may have just touched upon certain aspects deemed not directly in the purview of Batman, Brubaker and Rucka delve deep. For instance, when Montoya is 'outed' as a lesbian, readers get a 360-degree view of the scandal... from the way Allen (her partner) supports her to her conservative parents' reaction to the riles of colleagues.

The sweat 'n blood aspect apart, the series also highlights the possible frustration, bordering on hatred, that cops can feel about Batman.

From all prior Batman books, readers have been conditioned to expect that Batman is a friend to the policemen. Well, I'm certain that's how Batman feels about it. Gotham Central, however, takes the view that Batman is called in when regular policework has failed... not only because regular cops aren't allowed to go above the law, but also because Batman is a better detective. It stands to reason that a detective, therefore, would not be very keen to turn on the bat-signal on the HQ roof because it would mean admitting failure.

When you think about it, you and I would feel the same way.

While the series was critically acclaimed for both story and art, and has certainly garnered its fair share of fans, it was discontinued after just a 3-year run when its creators started working on other projects. Also, surprisingly, Gotham Central had a relatively low sales turnover.

Most authors tend to analyze and probe the Dark Knight's darker side, and more recently, have begun giving Joker this same treatment. I don't know how other readers feel, but I, for one, would like to see more work in this vein.

If you haven't read it yet, you should be able to pick up collections at the local Landmark.

Maus

Just about everyone I know has heard of Maus. After all, Art Spiegelman's biographical depiction of his father's experiences in the holocaust did win him a Pulitzer and an Eisner among a host of other awards and nominations. For those of you who haven't actually read it, here's the  story in brief. 

Art begins the story with a visit to his father, Vladek, and expresses an interest in drawing the story of his and Anja's (Art's mother) experiences in the holocaust. Vladek agrees and begins his tale with how, as a poor young man, he left his longtime girlfriend to marry Anja because of the dowry and the family money. With the support of his new family, Vladek starts his own business and is quite successful. The invasion of Poland by Germany interrupts this dream life and the rest is, literally, history i.e., oppression-disappearances-killings-holocaust-transportation by train-concentration camps-gas chambers-escape etc. 

On one hand, it's a first-person account of surviving hardships through cunning and ingenuity, and of betrayal by friends & neighbors. On the other, it's about how experiences shape lives and engrain traits in us. Some readers may find me treating it very curtly, but that's because I found Maus quite disappointing. Surprised? Let me explain.

Here's what I like. Spiegelman's writing is excellent, as is his characterization. His neurotic father's miserly ways, which are a hangover from the holocaust, are well portrayed in everyday life. The representation of people as anthropomorphic animals is creatively used. For instance, while Jews are mice and Germans are cats, the child of a Jew and a German is a mouse with cat stripes. And the portrayal of his (often tumultuous) relationship with his father is honest. That's about everything I liked about the book.

Here's what I didn't like. There's nothing new about it - not a point-of-view, not an opinion… nothing. If you've seen any of the numerous movies like 'Schindler's List' or 'Escape from Sorbibor', Maus doesn't add anything to it. It's simply an engaging story from an "adventure" stand-point and the fact that it's not fiction helps build it up even more. 

Opinions aside though, it's worth a read. 

I'm sure most readers will have different views… so let's hear them. 

It's a Bird

One of my friends got back from a vacation some days back and, knowing of my interest in graphic novels, told me of a book that one of her friends back home had gifted her. "It's called It's a Bird", she said. I hadn't heard of it, but I asked to see it. She brought it to me the following day.

 

When I looked at the cover, I hesitated. There was an illustration of people with red 's' emblems on them. I was slightly taken aback. The title fell into context - this was a Superman comic.

 

Like just about everybody I know, I've read several Superman comics over the years. Yet, if I were asked what Superman meant to me, I'd be hard put to come up with a satisfactory answer - especially to myself. In the early years, he was just busy beating up the baddies. Then he started seeing (and eventually marrying) Lois Lane and the comics drifted into exploring what a personal relationship to him might be like. I especially hated this particular phase since, to me, it was no different from the various soaps on TV. I guess my thoughts on the character were something along the lines of "I'm growing up; why doesn't he?".

 

And I stopped reading Superman comics altogether. Nothing the man did interested me; there was simply no connect. If it were a romance, I guess I'd say we were stagnant and decided to part ways. That should give you a clue about the mindset with which I set about reading It's a bird.

 

It's a Bird is not like any Superman comic I've ever read. It's not concerned with what Lex Luthor is up to, or how many baddies Superman is beating up, or what Lois Lane is doing. It's written from My point of view as a person who has read Superman, and stopped.

 

Written by Steven T. Seagle and illustrated by Teddy Kristiansen, the story is a biography of Steve (not the writer). Steve is a comic book writer who's been asked to write the next Superman comic. And does he jump at the chance? No. He wants nothing to do with it. He hates Superman - and I don't just mean the comic. Steve dislikes the very concept of a Superman. As you can imagine, Steve's editor is very surprised by his refusal to write Superman, and tells him that he won't accept "Because I don't like him" as an answer, giving Steve a few days to think it over.

 

Everywhere Steve goes, he encounters people who love Superman and is surprised by Steve's dislike. The story progresses in 3 parallel flows. One consists of intermittent flashbacks to Steve's childhood which holds a dark and shameful family secret and is the story of one day he spent at a hospital when his grandma passed away. A second one follows the present, where Steve meets various people, goes home to meet his mother, fights with his girlfriend, looks up college classmates, speaks to a mechanic, colleagues in the industry and other events in his daily life.

 

The third flow, peppered across the story, are Steve's thoughts on Superman. His introspection on the man and his analysis from a purely characterization point of view. While Seagle has expertly weaved the three threads together, this third is my favorite. The analysis done is largely common sense. It's what you and I already know, but have possibly never consciously pulled together. Steve's politics also come out very clearly, especially when he breaks down the concepts of power, justice and alienation, and how the world continues to work on a "might is right" philosophy. Even more interesting is his breakdown of how the Superman creators were Jews themselves and why possibly they thought of a Superman character as important in the world, and reflects on the choice of costume colors.

 

If you still need another reason to read this book, then consider that Kristiansen won an Eisner for his art in the book. Although done in dull colors, the artwork reflects the mood of the story perfectly. Everywhere Steve goes, he finds some sort of support for Superman, usually in the form of someone wearing an 'S' t-shirt to a point where even the reader starts to empathize with Steve's irritation with the subject. Yet its completely called for and adds and extra star to the already strong storyline.

 

Do let me know if any of you have read this one and what you thought of it.