Black Summer #0 works because of a couple of key images. First off is the wrap around cover, actually more part of the story than the regular cover.
It’s a scene of horror in a familiar setting, with the one character standing being a visual contradiction. Dressed in white to symbolize that he’s one of the “good guys,” he’s also covered in blood, the perpetrator of the horror around him. John Horus, one of the countries’ heroes appears to be one of the countries’ greatest killers, massacring the President and his staff.
Later in the book, we see the bloodied Horus approaching the news room podium. Once again, a familiar setting becomes some transformed horror setting as the “hero” begins to tell America how he’s protected them basically from themselves. Unjust wars and stolen elections are just a few of the familiar rhetoric that he spews. Truly he’s either the greatest hero the country has seen or its greatest villain. I guess only time will really tell.
But the image of him entering the room, towering above the press corp, is striking. At this point in the book, we’ve been told by newscasters that this man is a hero, that he has even been known to advise the President on occasion. Now here he is, bloodied, about to talk to the press. In the White House. Surely something awful has happened here in the White House and Horus has been a key element to its victory.
I’m surprised by Juan Jose Ryp, a regular in the Avatar Press stable. The love child of Frank Quitely and Geoff Darrow, Ryp’s artwork is hyper-detailed (maybe a bit too detailed and rendered in some areas) but he pulls off some great moments, particularly focussing on Tom Noir, a former teammate of Horus’ but now disabled, missing a leg.
You can see some Quitely showing through in the construction of the face here, reminiscent of the main character in Flex Mentallo. Maybe the Darrow influence isn’t that noticeable this issue but there’s a preview of a 2-page spread from the next wrap around cover that looks like something out of Darrow’s Hard Boiled or even The Matrix that makes me a believer.
I was actually quite skeptical going into Black Summer. My love-affair with Warren Ellis only goes so far and most of his Avatar work has been slightly indulgent, filled with almost cliched Ellisonian ticks. Over the past couple of year I’ve felt he’s done more really imaginative work working within the confines of shared universes than a lot of the creator-owned work of his. In Black Summer, he’s struck a nice balance of shock and suspense. Maybe some of the post 9/11 rhetoric could be toned down but, for now, it’s as shocking as the images of Horus with the White House press corp.
How good is the book? Well, I picked up the first issue more on a whim than anything else. But after I was done, I immediately emailed my LCS, asking for this to be added to my pull. Ellis and Ryp set up the right amount of horror and mystery, combined with strong writing and some surprisingly good art to create a good introduction to this series.
[tags]Black Summer, Warren Ellis, Juan Jose Ryp, Avatar Press[/tags]
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