Punisher #7 "the String"

Greg Rucka and Marco Checchetto's "the Punisher" ongoing series has from the start faced an uphill struggle. Coming at the heels of a long string of Punisher revamps that have been chipping away at the good will of all but the biggest fans of the character, it's easy to see why the latest #1 was met with a lukewarm response from both the critics and the audience. Debuting at the same time as the highly acclaimed latest iteration of "Daredevil", the Rucka/Checchetto vehicle seemingly felt too familiar, both in concept and execution.

On the other hand, "The Punisher" is highly comparable to Bendis and Maleev's "Moon Knight", in that it was the product of long form plotting, done in the style pioneered by Brian Michael Bendis in the early 2000s, that is slowly falling out of the favor. Rucka's police procedural inspired take on the Punisher aims for the slow burn, and takes time to develop an extensive supporting cast, basically approaching "the Punisher" as a true ongoing title, and not the publisher's latest shock tactic, to try and engineer interest in their longtime intellectual property.

The writer's soundly crafted scripts are regularly being brought to life by Checchetto, featuring a style that is both detailed and dynamic. Peppered throughout the backgrounds are occasional flashes to Daredevil continuity, serving the purpose of reminding the reader they should group together the publisher's grittier titles. Until this last month, little was done to actually make "Marvel New York" titles feel like a coherent whole. Over on "Daredevil", Mark Waid has introduced a subplot regarding Matt Murdock coming into possession of an Omega drive hiding the info about several of Marvel's terrorist organizations, but the publisher waited until the last moment to announce the three part crossover between their vigilante books.

When they finally unveiled the solicitations, the readers and retailers were informed that the "Omega effect" crossover would be taking over the April issues of "Punisher", "Daredevil" and heretofore unrelated Spider-Man's team up book "Avenging Spider-Man". The story would be co-written by Greg Rucka, and feature the artwork of Marco Checchetto. As such, it's understandable that artist's work on the ongoing title would have to be rescheduled for the duration. To no one's surprise, the editorial's solution was to hire fill in artists. Thanks to their previous work on DC's "Gotham Central", this meant that at least for an issue Rucka would be reunited with his "Gotham Central" collaborator Michael ("Daredevil") Lark.

Fitting between two parts of the ongoing storyline, "the String" acts as an intermission designed to spotlight one of the detectives tasked with investigating the massacre that opened Rucka's run. In many ways, the story works as a character piece, thus making it a much more approachable series primer than the aforementioned first issue. Oscar "Ozzy" Clemons, the Harry Edgerton-inspired veteran African American detective had up to that point made several negative asides regarding the Punisher, and Rucka uses the Lark drawn issue to explain the character's frustration.

Just seeing Michael Lark's work, inked by frequent collaborator Stefano Gaudiano almost serves to set the bar in regards to the artistic level. For all of Checchetto's attractive animated figures, Lark and Gaudiano, much like Matthew Southworth before them, simply present art that is more seasoned and better thought out. Where Checchetto opts for imitating the cinematic presentation, and the editorial sees fit to color his work to reinforce the illusion of familiar special effects, Lark dismisses the notion for the traditional, layered comic book storytelling. And while the series' regular artist could hardly be said to feature traditional superhero art, Lark and Gaudiano go one step further, by presenting the moody, representational style that works as quality comic book art by any definition.

Rucka starts the story off with the familiar image of the detective staring at the city map strewn with photos and pins, but thankfully it's the switchblade that Ozzy's playing with that becomes central to the story. Called up to investigate seemingly yet another in the crime scenes left after the Punisher's shootouts, the detective joins his younger partner and they finally start discussing their differences when it comes to Frank Castle's vigilante work. Detective Walter Bolt had already been revealed as the Punisher's police source to the reader, adding to the tension behind Clemons' monologue.

From the moment Ozzy hands his partner the keys to the car, the story starts feeling like an episode of the "Homicide" TV-series, but Rucka is careful not to get carried away on a tangent. These characters, no matter how well defined, exist primarily to add dimension to the Punisher, and it's in this way that a flashback to their shared past proves crucial. Rucka specifically recalls an early "Punisher" issue, that crossed over with "Daredevil". Typical of Mike Baron's scripts for the original Punisher ongoing, the story of the Zum killer was an over the top affair, but executed in a very memorable way. Marvel used an Ann Nocenti/John Romita jr. issue to recast the action from Daredevil's point of view which, barring the Frank Miller's work with the character remains the most memorable of the two vigilante's team ups.

By inserting Ozzy into the well regarded 1988 story, the writer both solidifies his character's place in the Punisher continuity, and at the same time foreshadows the upcoming "Daredevil" crossover. The latter is most important, as the recapped story basically boils down to a single heavily narrated action scene that would otherwise serve mostly as fan service for longtime readers. The Daredevil connection goes a long way to elevating it and justifies the continuity nod over the new scene that would have served a similar purpose.

By treading this kind of material, and basically recasting the superhero formula from the point of an innocent bystander, Rucka is clearly following in the steps of "Marvels" and his own work on DC's Batman titles. Despite the over familiarity with the scenario, the insertion of human element is often key in making the larger then life plots resonate for the reader. This is how Frank Miller used journalist Ben Urich in his history making "Daredevil" run (the character cameos in one of the early Rucka/Chacchetto "Punisher" issues), and there is nothing wrong with the practice. In a genre where the reader point of view characters routinely become superheroes themselves after a while, it's clear why Rucka felt the need to populate his story with both the ambitious journalist stereotype and a pair of detectives.

After making clear his enmity against the Punisher and his self insertion in New York's penal system, Ozzy goes on to directly confront Bolt on his role as Castle's informant. The moment feels needed but unearned, since the reader has seen little evidence to corroborate Clemons' conviction. That Ozzy's intuition alone was enough to infer that Punisher was being given information by someone close to the investigation seems plausible, but in lieu of any direct evidence, Ozzy's proclamation seems rash and unrealistic. Thankfully, Rucka follows it with an extended epilogue showcasing the investigative skills of both detectives, with Clemons' talents bringing the character on the right trail and concluding the issue on a high note.

The last two panels featuring Ozzy's switchblade perfectly round out the story, as they both call back to his story of the Punisher's tempering with the justice system when it comes to the Zum killer, as well as releasing the detective's pent up anger in a way that seems both threatening and methodical. Having affirmed his belief in his own abilities, Clemons slides the knife in for the last time, to symbolically proceed to tighten the net on the vigilante killer by using his mind as a weapon.

All this makes for a welcome change in the heavily plot-driven series, and serves as the showcase for both the character and the creators. If Rucka's "Punisher" was a TV series, "the String" would be the episode nominated for Oscar Clemons' performance, as realized through Lark and Gaudiano's spotless cinematography and actor direction. Following the "Omega effect" crossover, the reader can only hope that Rucka will feel inspired to turn out more issues at this level of quality.

Lady Sabre & the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether

"Lady Sabre & the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether" is a webcomic launched this summer by celebrated writer Greg ("Gotham central", "Queen and country") Rucka, and veteran artist Rick ("Batman adventures") Burchett. The announcement registered as a little more than an offbeat Rucka side project following his long tenure at DC, with most of the mainstream news sources preferring to speculate on the hype surrounding the creator's previous publisher's major publishing initiative. And even if not for the relaunched DC superhero line's continued dominance of  the comics news cycle, the traditional outlets would very likely devote little of their time to any kind of new webcomic, despite "Lady Sabre"'s popular genre trappings and the high profile of it's creators.

It goes without saying that such skepticism is unwarranted, especially when it comes to a free offering available twice a week in a tone that is completely accessible, embodying the best qualities of pulp entertainment. In short, "Lady Sabre" is a steampunk fantasy comic, opening with the first chapter that introduces the main character in action, reminding the reader of the opening of "Indiana Jones" movies. The audience is expected to pick up on the particulars without the need of lengthy exposition, and in this regard, the opening chapter of "the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether" does a commendable job. The protagonist is introduced in a lengthy action sequence, her previous relationship with the antagonist and the leader of the guard is alluded to upon in a manner that is both clear and subtle, and following their duel the creators tease the bigger picture by literally zooming out and revealing the rest of the cast in their nearby vessel.

Short and succinct, simple and effective, but not at all simplistic and superfluous. Rucka is a very methodical writer, and seeing him resort to such a slight plot is simply an exercise in understatement and world building, as a way of teasing the readers with the best the property has to offer when it comes to entertainment, before building up to a more elaborate story. A steady hand of a sure craftsman lies beyond every panel, indicating a tight script that called for a set of very specific moments, bringing an almost animated look to the sword fights (aided by the web layouts showing displaying several comics pages in a frame, when the story calls for it) that eases the reader into simply enjoying the presentation.

All the while, the carefully calculated choreography could have easily kept the reader from warming up to "Lady Sabre" if the hand of another skilled professional wasn't there to illustrate the battle in a classic steampunk locale. Rick Burchett proves a master storyteller in creating a clear flow, bringing an illusion of movement, and again clarity to the fight involving multiple personas that could have seemed too long and chaotic in another's hands. On the other hand, relying upon such archetypal characters and cliched adventure story tropes carries over a bit when it comes to character designs, with the protagonist particularly seeming as a too familiar unstoppable adventuress that is both beautiful and deadly.

This is a very real problem, as presenting a webcomic purposely done in a generic, action serial style could very well lead the potential audience to see it as somewhat backwards and not to their tastes. This certainly explains while "Athena Voltaire",  a masterfully executed pulp webcomic that is both gorgeous and seemingly inviting to potential new readers hasn't found a bigger audience. Rucka and Burchett's effort tries to sidestep this problem by taking on the popular steampunk aesthetic, yet it feels somewhat artifical. The creators are clearly much more attuned to the Golden age of comic's own adventure story tradition, than the relatively more recent steampunk fad, but at this point, it's more a matter of branding than anything else.

A good comic will work in any kind of genre and the creator's professionalism leads to a wholesome and quality presentation that, while still in the process of exhibiting it's own unique voice, certainly takes all the right steps in teasing the reader to expect more from the subsequent installments. Yet, ironically, it's not the book's tendency to cling to the cliches that is it's chief point of contention (the website provides text pieces indicating that the Rucka has thoroughly set up the property and is building to a good story, something that is all too often forgotten in the gimmicky world of genre entertainment), but another matter entirely. Strangely, the whole presentation is affected by nothing less than the rushed coloring job, seemingly done by the artist himself.

The high cost of quality production values of new work in a crowded marketplace is traditionally the chief reason why so many of the new offerings come in black and white, despite the subject matter being much better suited to the presentation in color. Likewise, most of the artists receiving low or no pay for such journeyman entries can't or simply won't present the material in a way that utilizes the most of the black and white presentation, perhaps aware that their work, if not on the original episodes, will eventually be enhanced by the coloring studios, or a new contributor, once the financial benefits start coming in. "Lady Sabre" takes the opposite stance, and forgoes the sepia or gray toned black and white work, to be presented in full colors, but in doing so fails to utilize the extent of the modern coloring, leading to a shaky presentation. It is not that the colors are primary and completely without gradation, but they still look gaudy and oft putting when applied to such tight pencils and concrete storytelling.

And while an argument could be made, that what has been presented as primarily a fun adventure story would benefit from the clear, bright coloring, it's an entirely different matter when the resulting effects simply feel limited in specter, giving a strangely orderly and lifeless look. The gaudiness is tolerable and doesn't brings the whole presentation down, working to enhance the otherwise careful work of veteran creators, but most of it's power comes from effects, not separation.

In any event, "Lady Sabre & the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether" presents a strong an interesting new project, that would definitely be of interest to most of the comic fans with a soft spot for classical genre storytelling, and considering that it's presented free, twice a week, there is no excuse for any reader to avoid trying it out and consider jumping abroad the property this early on.