Let me first say that there's nothing wrong with capes and tights. But if you want graphic novels with a little more oomph, try scanning the shelves for a different fashion statement.
Trench coats. Wrinkled suits. Sleeveless shirts. Fishnet stockings. See these and you'll know you're in the right place.
If you like comics in which no one - least of all the protagonist - escapes unscathed, if you like stories that cut like a well-honed shiv, then the following hard-boiled tales may be for you. Be warned: All these adult-oriented graphic novels contain extreme violence, gore and plenty of bad language. Some throw in a bit of nudity and sex, too.
In Bad Night by Ed Brubaker, a lonesome loser named Jacob meets the woman of his dreams outside a late-night diner. It doesn't faze him that Iris is drunk, coarse and has an abusive jerk for a boyfriend. Jacob offers her a ride home. Iris accepts but passes out en route, so Jacob takes her back to his place to sleep off the booze. But Jacob is quickly in over his head. Iris and her boyfriend, who's still in the picture, rope Jacob into a scheme that involves impersonating an FBI agent to steal money from Asian triads. The boyfriend seems to be in charge but Iris has her own plans. And murder figures in them. Using spare, evocative language, Brubaker makes the tension spiral like a drill-bit. Sean Phillips provides the perfect complement with dark, claustrophobic art that masterfully renders every facial tic and look of desperation. If you like Bad Night, you might also try Coward, The Dead and the Dying, and Lawless, which are by the same writer and taken from the same comic series, Criminal.
While Bad Night has a retro feel, First Shot, Last Call is modern day noir. Isabelle "Dizzy" Cordova has just been released from prison. While she's riding the bus back to her 'hood, a man slips into the seat beside her. Introducing himself as Agent Graves, he presents her with a briefcase. Inside is a gun, 100 untraceable rounds of ammunition and irrefutable evidence that corrupt cops gunned down her husband and young son. She now has carte blanche to act on the information. If she kills the cops, she will never be caught. So begins 100 Bullets, writer Brian Azzarello and artist Eduardo Risso's award-winning, labyrinthine series of intrigue, revenge and street violence. Torn between a desire to avenge her family and a need to put gang life behind her, what will Dizzy do? Keep reading the series to learn more about Graves and why he's doing what he's doing.
The last graphic novel is more Sam Peckinpah than Raymond Chandler but it deserves a place in this column because it exists in the same dark world of moral ambiguity and violence.
As a character, the Punisher exists alongside super heroes such as Spider-Man and the X-Men but his milieu is, shall we say, different. Instead of pummelling mega-villains with lamp-posts or webbing them and turning them over to the cops, Frank Castle trains his assault rifle on ordinary gangsters. If they're lucky, they end up in the hospital. The rest go in the ground.
In The Punisher: In the Beginning, comics writer Garth Ennis reinvents the pitiless character and makes it clear from the outset that he's not loading rubber bullets. From Castle's grim memories of his wife and children dying in the crossfire of a mob hit to the birthday party he crashes with an M-60 and some Claymore mines, the story moves along like Rambo in a roomful of Commies. It empties one clip, then loads another.
Early in the comic, Castle's one-time assistant, Micro, joins with a middle manager from the Department of Homeland Security to capture his former boss. Micro presents him with an ultimatum: Die or work for the government as a black ops agent battling terrorists. Meanwhile, some cut-throat gangsters who want to kill the Punisher learn where he is. Mayhem ensues. With guns firing and brains exploding, Castle escapes and engineers a showdown with the government men and the mob. The results aren't pretty - they never are with the Punisher.
In terms of graphic content, Ennis always pushes the envelope but he writes great dialogue, too. If you like his work on The Punisher, you might be ready for The Preacher, which takes the same envelope and rather than pushing it, hurls it about two blocks down the street.
Look for these adult-oriented graphic novels and others at your local library.
A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published every Wednesday. Chris Miller works at Coquitlam Public Library.
