Creative Staff:
Story: Brian Azzarello
Art: Juan Doe
What They Say:
The ugliest side of humanity may be humanity’s only hope. In a small Midwestern town, a large man with a horribly scarred face gets off a bus, and takes a room. He spooks the locals–nobody knows him–or do they? It’s impossible to say because he seemingly has no face. The man’s intentions remain unknown, until he takes on a corrupt sheriff and the rural crew of racist arms dealers. The town’s impression of the man changes, and he’s seen as a hero…until his real intentions bubble to the surface. The man isn’t there to end the gang, but to take it over.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With a solid slate of diverse titles so far, AfterShock Comics has certainly kicked off their lineup well. While Insexts was my most anticipated title from the first month, American Monster was the one I was most keen on from the January release slate. Writer Brian Azzarello has done some fantastic works over his lengthy career that have kept me very interested and this one certainly looks to stake out some brutal ground for him to work in. What takes it to the next level, however, is Juan Doe’s artwork and coloring design here. This is a dark looking book that never feels murky and ends up with a strong visual punch that just strikes the reader in a powerful way. As difficult as some of these visuals are, his layouts and designs command you to look at them.
With a title like American Monster you can really look at the series and the stories it’s kicking off with by viewing any and all of them as monsters in different ways. The three tales are separate and I won’t be surprised to see them connect sooner rather than later, but each is likely capable of standing alone as its own book and storyline. The vision of an American monster is certainly different region by region and person by person, making it plain that what you take away from here will show you some very different ones. While our Iraq war vet is the most obvious “monster” in the series, it’s more than likely just his appearance that lets him take that title. We see his past a bit and that doesn’t make him good or bad, but what we see of him in the present is even tempered for the most part and just a bit pissed off. A monster? Perhaps he is, but I’m hard pressed at the moment to apply the title to him based on what little we know.
The easier to identify monsters are the thugs that kidnap a husband and wife and put them through some rape and torture in a field while setting them up to see which will kill the other first. There’s a mixture of things going on here that has Felix, the main thug, dealing with as the husband screwed him over with some investments and there’s some supposed disdain towards the wife for cheating on her husband. Felix orchestrates things to see which of them is the true monster by setting it so that one will have to kill the other before he kills them both and it’s pretty brutal through and through. There’s no sense of greater meaning to the moment other than to show what Felix and his group are capable of but that’s more than enough to help set the overall tone for the book and how far it’ll go. And this is likely just scratching the surface.
Less clear but potentially a different kind of monster is that of a young woman named Snow. She’s messing with a few guys to fleece some easy money off of them by showing them her breasts and it’s a weird kind of conversation in general. But similar to the vet earlier in the book when he hits up a store for some help, there’s a layer of “political correctness” being tossed out the window with the talk of racism and similar elements. Her story, combined with the vet’s experiences, paints that dark undertone that many are feeling in the world today of things gone so wrong and so badly that they’re lashing out in all sorts of ways, verbally being the easiest and harshest in a sense because it makes them feel empowered to belittle others. We see in the store sequence that it’s used to feel superior even while knowing others will give them grief for it, but they find it as a way to sort of stand up to them while not exactly going all the way with it. It’s a curious piece that I’m really interested to see how it fits into the larger narrative that will take shape in the next few installments as this definitely doesn’t seem like a book or cast of characters that’s going to come together in an easy fashion.
In Summary:
The strength of the creative team is what’s going to drive American Monster at first and then I suspect the story and characters are going to completely grab us. There’s a raw nerve that feels like it’s being played with here to see what sticks and strikes and that’s definitely engaging to watch – particularly with such beautifully disturbing artwork as we get from Doe here. A lot of opening issues make it clear exactly what the book will be like and you can tell from there the opening arc to some degree. Here, it’s captivating because it’s unclear what it’s agenda is and where it’s going to go. In a sea of predictability, that’s hugely enticing and I can’t wait to see more.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: AfterShock Comics Via ComiXology
Release Date: January 20th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99