The Unit

“We answer only to the President of the United States. Our missions and our existence are closely guarded secrets. Not even our wives know the truth about our missions.�

It’s good to see that Dennis Haysbert has recovered from his role as the President of the United States on 24 (as well as of being a shill man for insurance). The Unit is a part of CBS’ Action Tuesdays, Haybert’s Jonas Blane leads an elite group of soldiers in missions varying from stopping terrorists on a plane to rescuing Christian missionaries to defusing potentially nuclear bombs. In The Unit there are guns, swagger, action, and not-all-together surprisingly, depth.

From executive producers Pulitzer prize winning dramatist David Mamet (The Spanish Prisoner, Glengarry Glen Ross) and Shawn Ryan (The Shield) - the show captures our attention by its pedigree alone. Two of my favorite creators team up to create a series? I’m there - which translates to “expectations are high.� Both creators are at their best when they are examining the human condition.

Rather than simply follow around the lives of the men, the show has added an extra dimension by exploring the world of military wives. They aren’t wilting flowers either, having to hold together marriages/families largely in the absence of their men. Sometimes spouting Mamet-ian dialogue throws off the rhythm of the actors, but when that’s the worst criticism I have, well, alright then.

“You used to go, didn’t you?� --Molly Blane (Regina Taylor)

In a lot of ways, the show is a comment on our culture’s worship of self-reliance. These days we are producing “an Army of one,� and the members of The Unit are trained to trust in themselves and each other. There is no room for doubt. They receive orders, they follow orders. The reality is that there are a lot of problems in the world. We have but to turn on the evening news to hear the latest litany of troubles. We can keep questioning the “why?�s of existence, or we can be about being the problem solvers, the solution.

Which is why we have the “ekklesia,� literally, “the called out ones.� A special unit called out for a purpose. This unit has their first loyalty to a higher idea, before friends, before family, and are called upon to sacrifice even their lives for the sake of their mission. What is their mission? Shamar and abad: to take care of and to serve. In other words, their purpose is to protect and serve the greater good

“Was that God’s will? I have no idea. But I’ve been a part of this man’s army many years and what I know is it is our will that keeps the home fires burning, our will that lets our men leave and walk into harms way, our will that allows us to survive if something happens to them and for me that’s a kind of faith? What is it that you’re looking for? It doesn’t have to be my church or any church at all but it’s gotta be something.� –Molly

The church is the unit and it’s not always easy. Like one of Jonas’ soldiers, Bob Brown (Scott Foley) who implores his wife Kim (Audrey Marie Anderson) to “have faith,� Kim responds that “I have faith. I still have fear.� The church isn’t perfect. It can’t be because it is made up of imperfect people. However, it is a place to find connection, to find community, to be there and support one another. To find ways to pray and struggle through life together, so that hopefully, like Kim, we can conclude that “if that’s prayer, it’s got to be a kind of faith?�

The Unit has upped the testosterone ante in my television line up, but it’s not all empty bravado and strutting around. It’s not a meditative work, which isn’t what we want from “Action Tuesday,�but between the flourishes, we have heart and intelligence, exploring these characters and what it means to live and sacrifice for duty.


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All the King’s Men

“The King’s Men’s Road�

Well, it’s officially Fall. The new television season has started. Football is being played. In the movies, we’ve put away the random explosions, the buddy comedies, and the glut of spandex laden heroes. It’s grown folks movie season, the time for actors and studios to begin their Academy Award stumping (or dumping with movies they couldn’t place any other time of the year). All the King’s Men is a bit of both.

All the King’s Men, a remake of the 1949 Oscar winner, tells the story of the rise of a charismatic everyman politician and his eventual fall due to the lure of corruption. Sean Penn plays Willie Stark, a self-described “hick� (modeled after Louisiana’s governor, Huey Long), a seemingly honest man cast about in a sea of backroom, backwater politics and the Good Ol’ Boy network, swimming against the tide of corruption. Used by controlling interests to split the “cracker� vote until he becomes his own man; unfortunately, being his own man also means being fully capable of falling into his own self-made pit of corruption.

Jude Law portrays jaded reporter, Jack Burden, whose guiding philosophy of “what you don’t know won’t hurt you� keeps him as more observer of life than participant. He goes so far as to admit that “I don’t care. If I did, I’d do something about it.� Between the two characters, we have a fascinating character study, a time of when politicians were allowed to be characters not overly packaged commodities. As such, Sean Penn and Jude Law give noteworthy turns (though I still have no idea what accent James Gandolfini’s Tiny Duffy was affecting).

The temptation of power becomes that Stark effectively gets in bed with the devil in order to do the right thing. Believing that we’re all sinful creatures, but that good can come from bad, Stark doesn’t quite realize his fundamental problem: that he can no longer tell good from wrong, worthy ends from evil means.

Duffy: “God works in mysterious ways.�
Stark: “Sometimes He has other’s do His work.�

Ultimately, this movie is about the pursuit of truth, and conversely, how the truth pursues you. Even after professing that “I�m gonna keep my faith in the people. You know why? Time brings all things to light,� Willie Stark doesn’t quite understand the nature of faith and truth. His first problem with the truth revolved around how best to convey it. He sounded every bit like the same old politician the people had heard before. Only after he finds his voice does he decide to incarnate the truth, be what it is the people need and tell them what they need to know. S sometimes the full truth is too complicated, especially for sheep-like “hicks.� He became one of them, a “superficial sap.�

Despite his vowing not to be used by the powers - the Empire, the imperial order - reality says that the reach of rampant consumerism, fueled by global capitalism and an individualistic sensibility, and ruled by strict economic and militaristic control, or in this case, centralized power in the hands of a few huge corporations is rarely denied. Stark’s “The power is in the hands of the powerless,� meek shall inherit the governor’s office rhetoric reminds us of a what if someone took Christ’s message of being about the poor and ran on his message as a political platform. Like Christ, Stark’s promises to the poor was all but a declaration of war to the rich/the Empire.

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned–“ Romans 5:12

Anne Stanton (Kate Winslet as the star crossed love interest of Jack Burden) tells Jack something that her brother, Adam (Mark Ruffalo) said: “Everything else could be filthy and corrupt, but a man didn’t have to be.� We see in Willie Stark how corruption starts small. Sometimes we feel the pressure to tow the company line, the Ol’ Boy, status quo; serve the Powers That Be. Sometimes we rationalize our behavior as pursuing good, if by poor means. Sometimes we’re “shaded by ... the sins of your own entitlement.� And sadly, sometimes we see/know the truth but we “push it outside of our head.�

Stark says it best when he says that “Sometimes a man can be so full of want he forgets what it is he truly wants.� Because eventually, Stark finds himself slowly adopting the methods of the empire, feeling the corrupting power of political machinations - be it bribery, threats, coercion, or using people’s or their weakness against them. His sentiment is echoed in the book of James (1:13-15): “When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.�

“The Truth is always sufficient. Just find the Truth.� –Stark

The truth is scary. It always has a way of finding its way to the surface, no matter how well hidden or buried. Stark tells us that “The only way to not know is to not want to know.� The truth goes to the original sin nature that Stark so often rails against throughout the movie. We start with us being broken. When all is said and done, our very nature is broken. As their sins keep finding them out, it kept leading to death; the schemes of the empire turning to ashes in their mouths.

“You only get a couple of moments that determine your life. Sometimes only one.� –Jack Burden

The last step in their journey follows what Jack tells Adam about himself, that he “can’t look at someone broke without wanting to fix them.� Ultimately, the sins must be paid for, by the blood of a (second) Adam, the sacrificial lamb (which gives special resonance to Stark’s early campaign slogan of “nail ‘em up�).

It’s been a long summer. I had almost forgotten what good, complex storytelling, with rich, complicated characters was like. The “problem,� such as it is, is that the movie is very self-conscious of how its message may resonate with us today. (Beware of films bearing narrator voice overs.) In trying to make a statement about - and playing to - our cynicism with our elected officials, the struggle of our idealism against “the way things work,� All the King’s Men drags a bit under its own weight. As political cautionary tales go, it hits all the marks. As a film, it doesn’t transcend them.

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Idlewild

“All the world is a stage. We have our roles to play. All the men and women merely players. They all have their specific entrances and exits.� –Percival Jenkins (Andre Benjamin)

Andre Benjamin/Andre 3000 and Antwan Patton/Big Boi, the duo known as Outkast to hip hop fans (and creators of the seminal The Love Below/Speakerboxxx CD) star in the movie, Idlewild. I probably went into Idlewild with expectations that the movie couldn’t live up to. The commercials and previews seemed to promise a throwback musical filled with energetic dance sequences, sort of like a hip hop Moulin Rouge. Heck, even a movie that played like an extended Outkast video would have made me happy.

Part of my expectations began with the title itself. Idlewild was a historic landmark city ... in Michigan. It was a haven of black entertainment during the era of segregation, where legendary black performers played before black audiences. It wasn’t the stepping stone to a greater market, it was a destination unto itself. The location was probably switched to Georgia because of Outkast’s ties to the state.

“God don’t make no mistakes.� —Percival

Like The Love Below/Speakerboxxx, Andre and Antwan spend most of the movie doing their own thing and pursuing their own stories and rarely come together on screen. The two come from different sides of the tracks, yet are united by music.

Percival Jenkins follows in his father’s footsteps, putting aside his dreams to be a musician in favor of a career as a mortician. Rather than study dead bodies all day, he can’t help but lived inside himself, having a sort of “Secret Life of Negro Mitty�-type of imagination. Andre seems more interested in singing than rapping these days anyway, every bit as eccentric as the character he portrays. Rooster (Antwan Patton) grew up among high rollers with fast money and faster women, admiring gangsters since they represent freedom outside the law, the so-called high life. The fact that their life typically happens to end in violence or imprisonment more times than not doesn’t seem to factor into things.

“You need the Spirit in your life.� –Zora (Malinda Williams)

Like us, both men were looking for their role to play - following the life you were born into vs. following the life you were meant to lead: funeral home director or musician; gangster linked musician or family man. Both need something outside and larger than themselves to touch and reach their souls.

The unforgiven or the unwilling, live a life of sinning
And expect to be as pure as an infant in the beginning but ...
What about repenting/what about detention?
What about you eating dinner in the devil’s kitchen?
What about repenting/what about committing the same sin over again and again?

Sometimes life can keep you down
With your face all in the dirt
now if you feel that left behind
You need to get up and go to church
–“Church� (Big Boi)

Rooster inherits the Prohibition era night club, the Syncopated Church, and has to overcome his own worst nature, from drunken dalliances with showgirls to his love of money that entangles him with gangsta “businessmen�. Church, however, also allows Percival the opportunity to hone his craft and pursue his true calling - as well as provide the excuse for musical numbers meant to dazzle us with their style. The performances and vision of the director, again, promise much, and when allowed to shine, deliver. The movie, however, gets bogged down with the gravitas of the often cumbersome “plot�. Between pursuing their dreams/life callings, dodging the machinations of the sleazy underworld, and squeezing in room for romance, the movie barely has room for the music.

My friend Rod Garvin breaks it down this way: Christ spent a lot of time in the company of the blues artists of His day and some added a few gospel tracks to their album as result. The question is can we party in "Idlewild" without losing our souls? There are some places that are just too idle and too wild and we may have to avoid them all together. Oftentimes the problem is the weakness of our own flesh (I can bear witness to that). Whether we're singing the blues, gospel or both, we all need a greater serving of salvation. Idlewild shows us that the path of redemption begins wherever we are, but in order to fully experience it, at some point we have to leave Egypt behind.

“You’re the angel that God told me to wait for.� –Mother Hopkins (Cicely Tyson)

A mix of past and present, Idlewild and Outkast, Idlewild is directed with a certain whimsy, stopping shy of attaining a sense of magic (more quirky than magic). The dreamy quality of the movie blends nicely with joy and energy that the music and dance injects - with not enough of either.

Idlewild is not the movie we were promised, though a star-studded affair to be sure: Ving Rhames, Macy Gray, Tisha Campbell, Patti LaBelle, Cicely Tyson, Bill Nunn, Terrance Howard. Though, for childhood friends, Andre and Antwan sure don’t share much screen time, which disappoints. The movie was an enjoyable period piece, in fact, just not quite something like The Cotton Club and more like an Outkast video that runs a little too long. It’s a slice of African American pop culture ... maybe I just hate overcoming expectations when I’m trying to enjoy a movie.


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Jericho Interview Excerpts

I was part of a online press conference with a couple of the principals of Jericho, Jon Turteltaub (executive producer) and Skeet Ulrich (star). Here are some of the excerpted questions and comments.

As a fan of your last regular tv work, Miracles, I was wondering what draws you to material like Miracles and Jericho?
Skeet: I was intrigued by the idea of these people put into extraordinary circumstances. The idea of how society get structured: who decides what’s important; what do we need and in what order do we need it. Also, things we dread. This fear. How do we approach it? How do we overcome it?

What are some of the spiritual implications of the show? What are the themes it meditates on?
Jon: Who are we really? If you take away the things that we are used to ... if we don’t have cell phones to deal with, if we don’t have money to deal with, if we don’t going to the grocery store to deal with. Also the show gets into the notion of structure. If you take away the institutions on which we hang our morality, when you don’t have someone telling you what is wright or wrong ... do people become open and more trusting or do they become distrusting ... There are many moral and spiritual questions. Spirituality has some of the answers, but some of the people find their answers in very practical ways.

Jon: If you are taking the social gloves off ... would you go crazy or would you try to maintain order? ... There is a certain amount of freedom that comes with the end of the world. Would you really be happy with that freedom, what are the dangers of that freedom, and what would you do with that freedom.

Where would you like to see your character go?
Skeet: I’m interested in playing someone who grows, someone who is continually learning and helping.

Jon: The mystery of Jake is not where he’s going, but where he’s been.

What sells better, appeals more, to an audience? Character driven work or action?
Jon: Start with character. Audiences start with characters. They want the story of the people. Action is about putting the character in jeopardy in an active way. The show is not sustained with action, it’s not going to be like 24.

As a follow up, there is rotating attention to each character. Is that deliberate?
Jon: I will give you and insider and a dramatic answer to this question. The dramatic answer is that we’re creating a community. Jericho is a character also. To get a sense of a town you have to get a sense of the people. The insider answer: you make contracts with acters and not every actor is contracted for every episode.


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Jericho

“In times like these, heroes are born and hope survives� -Jericho tagline

Waiting for the Fall 2006 television season to start, I’m fully braced for all of the Lost and 24 clones that I’m sure are to come. Last season, we saw the alien mystery, Invasion come and go, but that hasn’t stopped the networks from trying to test audiences with serialized genre shows. Thus this season we have Jericho.

Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich last seen regularly on television in the show Miracles) has been gone from his hometown. Remembered as a perpetual screw up, no one is sure where he has spent the previous five years (and he doesn’t give the same answer twice). He wants to make a clean start and for that he has to get his inheritance from his grandfather’s estate, which means going through his father, and town mayor, Johnston Green (Gerald McRaney - Deadwood, Major Dad - come on, admit it, you watched Major Dad back in the day).

Life as the town knows it is forever changed after a nuclear event.

“What’s happening?� –Emily (Ashley Scott)

The fabled walled city captured by the Israelites as they moved into their Promised Land. The first city they captured. A city that sealed itself within its fortified walls, waiting out any siege, such that God had to intervene for the walls to come tumbling down (though this does bring to mind Stephen King’s "hand of God" from The Stand).

Part of the mystery of the show is what exactly has happened and to what extent it has happened. Reports come in that more than one city may have been attacked. Being cut off from the world, for all they know, they may be among the last remaining cities.

Apocalyptic horror is almost its own sub-genre, it has a long and respected history. It plays on our nightmares about the end of the world. We lived in the shadow of the threat of nuclear war for decades, so much so that we’d become used to it. From a slate of 1950s era movies to Mad Max to The Day After to the book of Revelation, the idea of what “the end� holds for us is rarely far from our thoughts. Which is why Jericho ends up playing kind of like The Stand - The Series as the audience wrestles with the question of what would we do if the end was near. Or here.

“We’ve got work to do guys.� –Johnston Green

Tapping the same angst that fueled the Left Behind phenomena, I am reminded of the panic leading up to Y2K. I read all sorts of reports of what how people began hoarding, looking out for themselves (inside and outside of the church alike) - from stockpiling weapons and food stores to tales of children whose parents bought them waterbeds so that they would have a ready supply of water. And we don’t have to go back too far in history to find tragedies which mirror end of the world scenarios.

It is during these times that we find out who we truly are and what we’re made of (and about). We have to confront the idea of “loving our neighbors as ourselves� and without fail we start asking “who exactly is my neighbor?� Because our cities–our Jerichos and the people within them–apart from God, are broken.

“Seriously, where have you been?� Emily

We could let our baser instincts take over, take on an every person for themselves mentality, stealing/hoarding from our neighbors or pull together and act as a community. We could be a part of a ministry of reconciliation. This reconciliation, this “the Kingdom begins now� kind of living starts where we are today as we work toward a future, a future city that we await. One illumined by God’s presence.

Where you’ve been, what you’ve done, doesn’t matter. Jake thinks he needs money to make a clean start, however, life provides plenty of opportunities to start anew. To be who you are and live as you were meant to be can start today - loving your neighbors and being a part of a community.

The episodes I’ve seen of Jericho show great promise. My main concern lies in my hope that it manages to sustain its sense of mystery and underlying terror throughout its run. That sense of “what comes next?� that actually moves toward a point. I’m not necessarily pointing my fingers at Lost. Jericho looks to be a character driven serial that’s darkly exciting. I can’t ask much more than that (other than to trust that the writers have a long term story they are working towards).


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Miracles

“The Miracles are Out There�

“What is a miracle? To some people, it is a sign from the heavens, reaffirming their faith in God. To others, it could be evidence of the supernatural, a chance to document an unseen world that exists all around us. But what if you really did see something so physically impossible that it could only be explained as a message from above? Would it be life-affirming, or would it terrify you?�

Show creators Richard Hatem (The Mothman Prophecies) and David Greenwalt (Angel) are no strangers to genre work infused with spirituality. Miracles feels like the X-Files with God and His mysterious ways as the working mythology instead of aliens. Since the X-Files comparisons are inevitable, then like the X-Files, Miracles would’ve needed time for an audience to find it. Luckily, it is available in its entirety on DVD.

“What’s the point of faith if it’s never tested?�Father 'Poppi' Calero (Hector Elizondo)

Father Paul Callas (Callas/callous - neat, eh?), played by Skeet Ulrich, is an investigator for the Catholic church. His job is to debunk the miracles that people report. “I feel like a doctor who never cures anyone; I just show up, deliver the bad news, and move on.� Paul quickly becomes tired of being the one doing all the testing and goes on a sabbatical, like some desert father. He hasn’t seen the miraculous, he hasn’t seen the movement of God in any sort of miraculous way, and his faith is in tatters because of it.

“Maybe we’re on our own down here.� –Paul

Faith is a tricky thing, or as Paul puts it, “The harder I work at having faith, the further away it feels.� We all have faith, good faith, bad faith, or misplaced faith. Likewise, we all go through periods of doubt. When you know something, you can’t have faith in it because there is no need for faith. God is big enough for us to question, doubt, and wrestle with. In fact, He expects us to. The thing is, once we have all of the answers, we don’t need God anymore.

Faith “is like falling in love: you never believe it can happen until it happens to you� as Paul’s blind friend puts it. The bottom line is that you have to make faith your own. Confess your unbelief while you struggle through it. I don’t know what it says that he felt that he couldn’t explore his doubts within the church, but too often that is the case. A lot of people aren’t comfortable with doubt and questions. They see it as a failing of faith. Doubt is a natural part of faith, not its opposite (certainty is the opposite of faith).

“People like to believe in magic.� –Doctor

All Paul wants is to see some true miracle, a sign of God’s presence in our reality and once more we get to observe the lesson of being careful what you wish for. During his first investigation after being called back into service, he is asked by a boy capable of miraculous healings, that are debilitating to him, “Why is this happening to us?� We underestimate “I don’t know� as a theological answer, though the scarier prospect might be that we aren’t alone at all. Which is why we continue to look for miracles. They are God’s calling cards. We believe that if only we could have some proof positive of God at work in our lives, in our world, then it would heal our faith and sooth our doubts. What we fail to take into account is that people can see the exact same things, the exact same set of circumstances and evidence, and come to very different conclusions: “God is no where� vs. “God is now here.�

We can’t go through life solely seeking signs of the miraculous out in order to build our faith upon, nor should we deny them when we come across them.

As creepy and engaging as the X-Files, with religion as backdrop instead of science, has its flaws. It lacks MiraclesX-Files light touch, with Ulrich’s dour lead having little to off set it. And it’s conspiracy mythology had too many shades of Millenium’s joylessness and also shared its end of the world paranoia (Left Behind angst). However, the show is every bit as much about faith and the search for truth.


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Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis

Written by Kurt Busiek
Art by Butch Guice
Published by: DC Comics

“I pretty much knew him just from that cartoon. You know, the one with the stupid walrus? ... I liked the guys who could fly. Superman, Green Lantern, soaring around up there in the clouds ... Aquaman breathed water and talked to fish.�

Aquaman’s always been the butt of jokes (most recently on HBO’s Entourage). Seen as the weak link of the Justice League (Super Friends to those of you of a certain age), he was a hero fairly useless in our mostly-out-of-water world. The character has gone through several title launches, none ever quite knowing what to do with him. A few years ago, Peter David infused the character with depth and edge, an excitement that had long been missing. First he fleshed out the epic history behind the character (The Atlantis Chronicles) and then, like Christopher J. Priest on Black Panther, he had the title character behaving like a true monarch. After all, Aquaman is the monarch of 3/4 of the world’s surface.

An Aquaman book should have certain qualities to it. There should be a mythic quality, after all, with a birth name like Arthur, plus him being a king, one cannot escape the Camelot comparisons. Being the monarch of the lost city of Atlantis, there should also be elements of sword and sorcery. These kind of qualities should make for an endless grand romp of action heroics on a grand scale. Yet once again, the series found itself on the cusp of cancellation. However, maybe there is simply not enough interest in the character to sustain his own book. Many have tried and now Kurt Busiek gives it a whirl.

I’m a long time fan of Kurt Busiek (JLA, Avengers). His recent remarkable run on Conan kindled an interest in the original works of Robert E. Howard. As of issue #40, he takes over the book, which has been re-titled Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis. It’s not like I had been following the book until then, having given up after Peter David was forced from the book, so having a fan favorite creative team take the book in a new direction makes as good a point as any to jump on board. As its title implies, there is a return to the sword and sorcery style epic sensibilities of Aquaman that remains faithful to the mythology established in The Atlantis Chronicles.

In the wake of Infinite Crisis, Atlantis has been hit hard and the entire undersea landscape (or is that oceanscape) is in a state of upheaval. Enter Arthur Curry, but not that Arthur Curry. It’s Aquaman, but not Orin, King of Atlantis Aquaman. It’s his son. This character embodies the mixed history of the Aquaman character: true to the original idea of Aquaman, product of science, engineered to breathe underwater; dropped into the history and supernatural world of the mythic incarnation of Aquaman.

This character is as lost as the reader and has to figure out all of the players as well as find himself. The big concern for the book though is that we don’t care enough about him to stick around. We need more than “hi, I’m Arthur, wait, not that Arthur� before punches start flying by way of story. He spends issue after issue not doing much of anything and worse, is boring while he’s at it. With sentiments of “I hate it here,� “I never asked for this,� and “you can’t make me,� he knows what he sounds like and there’s nothing ironic about him pointing out his character failings. He goes about his travels accompanied by King Shark (and old Superboy villain used to great effect) and the mysterious sorcerer, the Dweller in the Depths.

In addition to that, I get that Guice hasn’t been seen as a regular artist in quite a while, but I am not a fan of what is in these pages. I am laying the blame for the poor art, however, squarely at the feet of inker, Tony DeZuniga, rather than Butch Guice because I’ve liked Guice’s work in the past (and when in doubt, blame the inker).

“Still, the currents would bring what the currents would bring. There is no rushing them.� –Dweller in the Depths

Being true to the mythic interpretation of the character means that everyone is beholden to various prophecies about the king and his son. Prophecies, as one might imagine, are notoriously difficult to interpret and are more easier understood in hindsight rather than in painstakingly living to map out our daily existence in order to divine them.

With all the talk of the father (Arthur), the son (Arthur - not too confusing though it does put a new spin on the idea that “the father and I are one�), and the spirit (Vulko), the book wants to resonate with spiritual connections. Yet, weeding through the web of prophecies and people trying to both fulfill and thwart the prophecies, one might be better served to simply embrace his father’s will and just serve others. Let that simple edict chart the course for his life.

I see what Busiek is trying to do. Infuse this upstart Aquaman with the sort of vibe fresh from his Conan run, making him a fantasy adventurer against the backdrop of the mysterious depths. I’m just not feeling it.


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The Damned

written by: Cullen Bunn
art by: Brian Hurtt
published by: Oni Press

Imagine the idea of a Road to Perdition, except literally. A world of Prohibition era mobsters squabbling over territory, playing chess game over merchandise, and vying for power - a criminal underworld run, apropos enough, by demons. That is the world created by horror writer, Cullen Bunn, with The Damned. Brian Hurtt (Queen and Country, another fave book) delivers art reminiscent of Matt Wagner - a perfect blend of clean lines and moodiness - infusing each character with personality.

“Three days ... a long time to be dead.� –Eddie

Eddie is cursed: he can die, but can be brought back. Repeatedly. Along with the scars from his previous demise. A wise-cracking bastard among bastards, Eddie is kind of like a Raymond Chandler version of John Constantine; except, you know, for that whole “walking dead� thing.

The idea of supernatural forces behind the various powers that make and break nations is an old one (see the Book of Daniel chapter 10). Depending on your eschatology, Hell is already empty - with no demons having any interest in being there before their appointed time - which does bring up the issue of what the demons might be up to. Eddie works for Alphonse “Big Al� Aligheri, one of many demons operating the mob families. In this world, the crime cartels control soul-trafficking in the city, fueled by indulging our various sins: greed, lust, self-indulgence, hate. Eddie has been hired to solve a mystery for his boss, the disappearance of a key player in the ever tenuous alliance he is trying to forge in order to consolidate his power.

“All I really want are some answers.�

Let’s face it, many of us often feel as if this life, our current existence, is Hell on earth. As if we are The Damned. Our chain-smoking hero has a long list of people who want to see just how far his curse stretches; not to mention him paying for his own self destructive behavior. There is no shortage of folks will to prey and profit on our weaknesses. Granted, like Eddie, it might be time for one of those end of self conversations - where we eventually run out of people to blame for why our life is the way it is and stare into the mirror at the cause, and possible solution, to our problems.

The Damned is a moody romp and let me tell you, for the $3.50 cover price you get 48 dense pages of work - quite the bargain these days. Bunn has an ear for tough guy dialogue, and a feel for action pacing, while Hurtt’s art alone is worth the price of admission. A blend of two of my favorite genres, gangland epic and horror, I hope this title gets extended well beyond its initial six issue run.


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