Complete. Available from Amazon(US) or Amazon(UK).
Publisher: Icon
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Sean Phillips
Brubaker and Phillips are experts at taking elements of the classic crime and noir genres and applying them to modern-day or futuristic comic books to create fascinating and compelling hybrids. In this case, we have the idea of the antihero struggling to shake off the shackles of his dark past… as a science-villain, no less.
As one half of the infamous Overkill Brothers, Zack is unburdened by moral concerns and possesses a devastating appetite for destruction. When his crime-lord boss, Black Death, is captured by the authorities and makes the decision to eliminate certain loose ends, both Zack and Xander Overkill find themselves gunned down in a warehouse ambush. Xander is killed. And, as far as Black Death and his organisation are concerned, so is Zack. In truth, though, he survives, secretly testifies against his former employer and is subsequently placed into Witness Protection.
Now employed as a file clerk in an unremarkable medium-sized city, his twin brother gone and his powers suppressed by medication, Zack despairs of his new life. But when he turns to recreational drugs to distract from his miserable new existence, Zack is stunned by an unexpected side effect – the return of his powers. Donning his mask once again, and driven by the desire to feel free, Overkill takes to the rooftops. And that’s when a woman’s screams and the opportunity to test his rediscovered abilities against hoodlums signal an inadvertent stumbling into masked vigilantism.
But how long can an active Overkill avoid detection by his old boss? And who else might be looking to take advantage of someone with superpowers and every reason to keep a low profile?
The true value of Brubaker’s tale is in his insistence on keeping his protagonist morally ambiguous, rather than trying to reform him entirely. Overkill’s actions are motivated throughout by self-preservation and a desire to escape his Witness Protection cage. Zack doesn’t fight crime because it’s the right thing to do. The only epiphany present here is the realisation that hurting those who deserve it is just as much fun as hurting innocents. But it remains the potential to inflict pain, the violence itself, that motivates him.
Just in case there was any doubting his villainy, an incident early-on involving a Santa costume and a drunk female co-worker in a supply closet makes it crystal clear that Zack is not a particularly nice guy. And yet afterwards, as he stands on the rooftop in that Santa outfit and pines for the freedom afforded by a disguise, you actually find yourself empathising with him. And that is Brubaker’s trick here – relying on the reader’s own empathy and humanity to fill in where the story’s lead character is lacking. The same trick is used to great effect in the TV show Dexter, where an emotionally balanced audience is encouraged to project onto a psychopath in order to manufacture a ‘hero’. In both cases, the desired result can only be achieved because of one thing – great writing. And a first-person narration (or captions) helps considerably.
Phillips’ artwork on this book is moody and unpolished, effectively evoking the noir tone that underpins Brubaker’s twisting narrative and reflecting the darker aspects of the protagonist.
reluctantrolemodel 