Reviewer : William Cooling
Title : The Unshredded Man. Pt 2
Written by : Peter Milligan
Drawn by : Javier Pulido
Coloured by : Lee Loughridge
Lettered by : Clem Robins
Editor : Karen Berger
Publisher : DC/Vertigo
In the last issue we saw Christopher Chance (a man who can “become” other people) meet John Matthews an accountant who had faked his death on 9/11 to avoid an Enron style investigation. Matthews had planned to kill Foley, the C.E.O he blames for the situation he’s in as it was Foley who “forced” Matthews to shred some documents. However, Matthews had his price and agreed to let Foley live in exchange for some hard cash. Chance persuades Matthews to let him pick up the cash and of course we got the predictable double cross as Foley sends the heavies to kill “Matthews”. Luckily Chance being a hired gun not an accountant is able to dispatch them with ease. At the end of the issue we see Foley launch a counterattack on Matthews by sending his top assassin to Matthews’ “widow”.
In reality what I have just described was barely half what made Issue 2 such a great read. What made it such a great read was the brilliant insights that Milligan peppered over the strip into things like 9/11 and Enron, in many ways the narrative and the characters took back stage to these.
This issue we get a change of pace as the narrative and the characters come to the forefront. In particular we learn more about John Matthews. Matthews could so easily have been some Robin Hood type figure striking against the rich, but Milligan eschews such lazy characterisation. What Milligan keeps a firm grasp of is that no matter how much Matthews hates the likes of Foley he is one of them, and has the same flaws as they do. At the beginning of issue 3 it was possible to see Matthews as a corrupted idealist but by page 12 he is the kind of pragmatist that would actually become a high flying accountant. The fact that this change is accompanied by him using more financial jargon emphasises that he is just like those he hates.
We also get to see more of Chance; in particular we get to see his reaction to Matthews. Being confronted with someone who someone who like him subsumes himself in false identities causes Chance to reflect on whether constantly changing your identity leaves you empty as a person. Bizarrely his musing on his living a lie reveals him to be a very honest person (to himself at least). Where as Matthews refuses to see the similarities he has with Foley despite Chance pointing them out, Chance sees the similarities he has with Matthews and what that means for him as a person. In addition Milligan sensibly goes over what Chance taking on an identity actually means which help me as someone new to the character appreciate him more.
Milligan uses these characters in the midst of Matthews’ wife being kidnapped to construct a strong message about redemption, which ties in with taking responsibility for your actions. Yet in a twist that rings far truer than it we would all like, redemption is rejected as the truth that it is based on makes things far too awkward.
Milligan’s writing is incredibly sharp and tight here. Shone of most of the asides into the wider American situation Milligan’s writing becomes incredibly compressed as the story hurtles to its finishing point. It has to be said it does make a welcome change to get a short story like this in an American title in these days of five to six issue arcs paced with the trade in mind. I’m also impressed with how he manages to get me caring about Chance and his feelings of doubt even though I have only read one other issue featuring this character.
I also really like Pulido’s art. His line work although simple and sometimes lacking in detail just has so much expression and verve to it especially when he is drawing fight scenes. However what really stands out are his page layouts which are excellent in particular how he often has a figure in one panel actually spill over into others.
Overall I thought this issue was excellent. However, the characterisation of Foley prevents me from giving it full marks. Whilst I enjoyed reading him as a character he was at times just too outrageously villainous to be realistic, for example what type of C.E.O accompanies his heavies to a murder? That said, it’s a minor flaw and in no way detracts from my enjoyment of the issue.
