Fade From Grace #3 Review

Reviewer: Chris Delloiacono
Story Title: N/A

Written by: Gabriel Benson
Art and Cover by: Jeff Amano
Publisher: Beckett Comics

The best comic story last year was a wonderful graphic novel entitled Blankets. Written and drawn by Craig Thompson Blankets was a romantic story about a teenage’s first love. It was beautiful stuff that you couldn’t help but see a bit of you own life in. Blankets was so good it swept the Eisner, Harvey, and Ignatz awards. That is an amazing accomplishment and proof that comics can be romantic, but still have mainstream appeal.

What does Blankets have to do with this review? Fade From Grace is another wonderful comic that is rather romantic. Unlike Blankets, Fade is a superhero comic. The story is told from the perspective of, Grace, the fiancée of John, the hero. It’s a bit different than what you think, though. You see, John got his powers when they were already together, and becomes the superhero, FADE, with Grace’s somewhat-reticent help.

The title is a brilliant play on words. What affect will John’s new calling have on their lives together? It hasn’t been easy thus far, and it appears to be getting harder. This is a fantastic look at life, and it’s easy for me to put myself in these characte’s shoes. What would I do if I became a superhero? How would it affect my relationships with those that I love? There’s a lot of fun on these pages, but these are bigger themes than we see in most superhero works of comic-fiction.

This month FADE learns a lot more about his powers, but more importantly he confronts his first super-powered menace, a crime-lord named Dante in a suit of armor. For FADE, life as a super-hero had been fun up until this point. Now his “job” gets a whole lot tougher. Love doesn’t conquer all, when you’re a superhero. Fighting a super-powered menace can really put a crimp on your personal life. I detect a great deal of subtext, and it seems like there is a great deal of foreshadowing. I’m anxious to see if tragedy is in the couple’s future.

Feeling anxiety over a comic”¦that is a rarity.

Fade From Grace is brilliant. Gabriel Benson’s scripting moves the story ahead briskly, but with a minimum of dialogue. This allows the fantastic visuals by Jeff Amano to breathe. The pop-art style that Mr. Amano is using for the series is simple, yet it conveys the complexity of the characters, and their world brilliantly.

Gabriel Benson and Jeff Amano are creating one of the finest series on the market. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Fade From Grace winning a ton of 2004 comic awards. This is the type of book that needs to get into the bookstores of the country. We’re talking crossover appeal—just like Blankets—that just might bring the industry new readers.