Ten Grand #1 is another
cheat from last week, but what the hell this was a great start. J. Michael Straczynski has revived
his Joe’s Comics imprint and has gotten Ben
Templesmith as his artist partner for this book. I think it was a brilliant
move as Millar has shown that a great artist can elevate any script and make it
greater or add to its greatness.
Once you have read as many stories as I have it is hard to
not read something and say it reminds me of this, this and this. It is a
function of being a fan of stories via comics, TV, movies and books and then
multiplying by my age. Ten Grand is about an ex-hit man trying to pay off his
debt to heaven to buy a few minutes with his dead wife on occasion. A little
Hellblazer mixed with a hard edge noir character and the assassin with a heart
of gold. This thing could have easily been a train wreck as all the disparate
elements have to be put together right to make it work. JMS and Templesmith
pull it off.
I know JMS has been a lightning rod for some creators to
cast disparaging remarks at him and I’m sure some has been earned and some are
totally unfair. All I know is that there is a lot of his work that was very enjoyable.
He has done Midnight Nation, Babylon
5, Changeling, Spider-Man and The Twelve to name a few. All in all this looks
like another winner.
Now I would be remiss if I did not say that without Ben
Templesmith I’m not sure if this series would have work. His dark and moody art
and scratchy style enhanced the story every step of the way. I would have to
guess that Ben added a lot of his own story telling into this book and the JMS
is smart enough to know how to write to an artist’s strength. I could feel every
bit of Joe’s pain and remorse for the life he lived and the love he has lost.
Joe is now sort of a private eye that wants ten grand for
any case that he takes. This case harkens back to the tragedy that ended up
killing him and his wife. So we set the
premise and get an origin story all at the same time. It even has an audio file
that you can scan with a QR and listen to the book if you would like. A great
product and a great re-launch of Joe’s Comics.
Buy it.
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