Reviewer: William Cooling
Story title: F*ck You
Writer: Mark Millar
Artist: J.G Jones
Colourist: Paul Mounts
Letterers: Dreamer Design’s Robin Spehar, Dennis Heisler
Publisher: Millarworld/Top Crow/Image
Possible minor SPOILERS ahead
Last month in the launch comic of Millarworld Mark Millar showed us a world where the superheroes have been defeated and all that is left is a supervillain crime syndicate that is completely immune from the law. Into this world steps loser Wesley Gibson who on the death of his absentee father (who happens to be a supervillain) is offered the chance to take his place at the emperors’ table. This week we see him make his decision and undergo the training for his new life.
This is a very stylish comic, almost achingly so with Millar’s writing filled with irreverent and biting dialogue in addition to the numerous Hollywood stars cast as characters all creating a comic that has a superficial star quality to it. What it lacks in the slightest is any sort of moral fibre with Millar doing his usual “superhero comic as violent power fantasises†style without the fig leaf of morality that he gave to his work in The Authority and The Ultimates. This is most apparent in the pages where Millar lists all the things Wesley has done since acquiring his power in such a near pornographic way (not visual but emotionally) that you wonder whether he wrote this with one hand in his pants. The amorality of the story can also be seen in his handling of Wesley’s decision to become a supervillain, where he presents the situation in such a way as to make the decision a no-brainer and Wesley’s reluctance to do take the opportunity as another example of his chickensh*t nature. Not only is the idea that everyone should jump at the chance to become a villain problematic but it also robs the story of what could have been an engaging moral dilemma and makes it even harder for the reader to establish any relationship between the lead character and narrator.
Not that this isn’t a good comic as Millar does amorality with considerable panache (as opposed to the Unfunnies), although the sea of decadence does slightly rob the story of any sympathetic characters with Wesley in particular coming across as a nasty piece of work. That said some of Millar’s writing is excellent with Wesley’s training being an excellent and clever piece of writing whilst Wesley’s introduction to the syndicate is an excellent scene with the stuff about his costume one of Wesley’s few nice character moments. The introduction of Mr Rictus is also excellent and firmly establishes him as the “villain†of the piece by not only emphasising him being even worse than the others but by Millar’s characterisation being on the ball and making him interestingly evil, something that the petulant and nihilistic pleasure of Wesley at being evil didn’t always achieve. However the highlight of this issue has to be when the Prof tells Wesley the story of how the Superheroes were defeated which not only revels in its comic name checking (hmm Crisis in 1986) but also is of such a grandiose scale that it makes you desperately want to read that story, which is always a good sign for a back story. It also manages to elevate the Prof’s mindset above that of a petty criminal to something grander and more interesting.
What in many ways elevates this comic is the excellent art of J.G Jones whose Bryan Hitch esque style is perfect for the cinematic tone Millar is going for. Whilst the lack of any fights robs him of the chance to shine in majestic double spreads as most of Millar’s collaborators have he depicts the action well managing to depict the realistic and the fantastic in a consistent style. His character designs and characterisation is good to with his design of Mr Rictus and the looks of awe, worry and nihilistic pleasure he gives Wesley being good examples. The colouring is perhaps a tad suffocating in places but on the whole Mounts’ vibrant and strong colours suit the nature of the story.
I know in parts I’ve sounded heavily critical of this issues’ morality but that doesn’t alter the fact that this is a good read with Millar taking a lot of time in developing his world and his criminal organisation and by not featuring any set piece battles it continues the evolution of his writing that begun in the Ultimates. Having said that in parts the focus on characterisation reveals the amorality of the piece and the lack of sympathetic characters, which whilst never truly disgusting can in parts be boring. The question for me as to this issue’s ultimate worth is whether at the end there will be any redemption for the characters, which there are a few signs indicating that could happen. I don’t know whether that will happen and I know that many of its readers won’t care but the fact that I’m interested enough to stick with this series and see is a testament to the quality of the writing and art.
