Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Comic Book Report: Outsiders/Checkmate: Checkout


There's a certain talent required to take a character as ridiculous as Egg Fu and turn him into not just a plausible villain, but an actual scary motherfucker. Some of that is the art, certainly, but Greg Rucka's take-no-prisoners writing style doesn't hurt.

One of the interesting things about reading the same characters in different comics is seeing how their portrayal changes depending on who's writing them. Sometimes it's nice to see underused characters get their day in the sun; I really enjoy how Mr. Terrific is an actual person in Checkmate, as opposed to just a face in the crowd of, say, the overcrowded Justice Society of America.

Of course, the danger is that you'll get inconsistencies or outright contradictions in concurrent titles, but having the same person on the same book for a long time helps minimize that. There's also no substitute for planning, and I get the sense that Ruck and Winick did a fair amount of work breaking this story. All the pieces come together in a sensical and satisfying fashion.

Buy the book: Powell's, Amazon (affiliate links)

CKL

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