Reviewer: Mathan Erhardt
Story Title: A Match Made in Heaven
Written by Howard Chaykin and David Tischman
Penciled by Lan Madina
Inked by: John Stokes
Lettered by: John Costanza
Colored by: Sherilyn Van Valenbugh
Edited by: Shelly Bond
Published by: Vertigo/DC Comics
I really enjoy this book. It’s a title about Harry Kraft, a guy in the 1950’s who is hiding from his past, but everywhere he goes he seems to get drawn into trouble. I don’t know why I initially started reading the title, but it has been a solid read every month. Not necessarily to the top of the list, it is always delivers quality month after month. That is why it is so hard to read lately, now that I know the book ends next month. That saddens me.
This issue continues last issues set up of Harry working at a comic book company in the Big Apple. Since the story takes place in the fifties, the atmosphere at the office is different. Comics were created “in house†with everyone working at the office, on multiple titles at the same time, with one man (in this case Jack Wolfe) taking the majority of the credit for the finished product. Harry and his office chums manipulate Jack into making their job easier. Harry’s neighbor “Tiny†Tim is a midget wrestler who has the shot at the title. Unfortunately the match promoter wants Tim to throw the match.
At the match Tim’s pride won’t let him lose, and thus he becomes a marked man. After the match Harry and his coworkers stop off at the Automat and talk about the job. Then Harry stops by Broadway to visit with Mindy Marin (whom he met when he was in Hollywood.) While the two catch up on old times, Tim sits in his apartment awaiting a fate he has already accepted. When the enforcer comes, the beating is savage. Harry arrives outside the apartment in time to see Tim hurled out of a window. I can’t wait until the next issue.
Chaykin and Tischman’s writing is great. They really capture the essence of that era. While I don’t know too much about that time, they use references that firmly cement this book in that post war time. The Automat was a nice touch. The also touch on the war on comics that was going on at the same time. The dialogue is very clever and witty and the characters each have a distinct feel. That said this issue was kind of slow. I really wish this series was ending naturally or that the writers knew this was the last arc so I could be reading the series ending how the writers intended it to end.
The art is always good. Lan Medina from “Fables†fame is the guest penciler on this last arc, and he is doing a good job. Stokes’ inks have a very distinct look that I associate with this book. The two-page spread from the “Dr Dream†comic looks just like a comic book does. It is always cool when artists change their style to emulate a bygone era. Everything looks like it does in the realistic, which just shows the kind of job the team is doing. The cover, painted by Glen Orbik looks fantastic.
Again I am sad this book is ending. It is quality, in a time when so may books suck.
