Comic review and rumination: Garth Ennis's "Crossed"

[miritsu]

This is not my standard review as a) I didn't finish reading the material and b) it's based more on things the author said than the work itself.

I am a big Garth Ennis fan; he's famous for writing ultra-violent, pushing-the-envelope, dark humor stories like Preacher (about an ex-Preacher and his friends on a journey to find and kill God.  Yes,

Comments

[fatpie42]

Just saw the link to this in your later post with links to older reviews.

Superheroes were created, not to be realistic, but to show off the best urges and parts of the human condition: namely selflessness, bravery, and compassion.

Yeah, but Iron Man is none of those. The problem Ennis has is that Iron Man has nothing to say about the real world. What we enjoy about Iron Man is that Robert Downey Jnr. frames the character really well, but Ennis is right to note that it is pure escapism.

Crossed might have Ennis' trademark silliness along with his over-the-top sickness in equally large measure, but the aspects of the human condition the main characters have to face have some reflection in reality all the same.

That being said, I personally don't think there's anything wrong with something being pure escapism and, to be quite honest, I don't see how else you could really describe Ennis' magnus opus "Preacher". And "Crossed" still doesn't reflect reality to anything like the extent that Ennis seems to be trying to suggest.

In any case, the idea that Iron Man is "a fantasy about the best in us" sounds wrong to me. Iron Man is about a rich bastard who solves the world's problems with a special mechanical suit he's built. Superman is, if anything, more realistic in that it's about a figure who has almost unlimited powers, yet still finds himself limited by human beings themselves as to how much he can help them.

[miritsu]

Nope, Iron Man isn't about the best in us, or at least he doesn't represent that to me; he's too scuzzy for that. I was thinking more about classic X-Men, or Superman, or Spiderman. Or the new "No Ordinary Family" show. However, I think Ennis was lumping Iron Man in with other "guys with powers", as he put it, and criticizing them all together, so I was pointing out why I like some guys with powers, and how the fantasy of them isn't irrelevant just because it's a fantasy.

And yes, Crossed does have some reflection in reality, as I mentioned good zombie stories can; it didn't work for me, but it did for some people, and if it worked for them, that's cool. Nor do I think anything's wrong with escapism, it's just not what I was talking about in this essay.

In Preacher, I disagree with you. Jesse was a completely romantic hero, but Cassidy and Tulip were all too real, and the terrible things they did over the course of the series reminded me of things people I know with personalities like theirs have done. How Cassidy could kill his girlfriend and still see himself as a good guy...I've worked with so many guys like that down at the DV shelter. The sharp dialogue, the poking fun at politics and religion, the struggles in Jesse and Tulip's relationship, all those were spot on and sometimes very moving. The title pokes fun at everything and never took itself too seriously, but still had quite a lot of truth in it.

Now, if you want an Ennis book with nothing but silliness, read Kev. -_-

[fatpie42]

Fair point about Preacher. That's the really clever thing about Cassidy. The evil of Cassidy has nothing to do with his being a blood-sucking monster. Being a vampire simply means he's been able to be an arsehole for longer, but the stuff he's done could just as easily be done by someone who wasn't a vampire.

As for Ennis' hatred of superheroes.... well, first of all I'd like to point out that I hated "The Boys". I do not know what he was trying to do there, but to be quite honest I'd rather he did something without superheroes. The gay jokes got a bit tiresome and the anti-homophobia issue didn't make up for it whatsoever.

But yeah, have you read "Punisher kills the entire Marvel universe"? That is just CLASSIC!

[miritsu]

I'm divided on "The Boys". I like some parts of it, but the crap parts are just piling up until the stuff I like is getting buried under it, and it's just not worth it to read it to get to those parts, if that makes any sense. Making fun of retarded kids and the trouble they had using the toilet in "The Innocents" storyline was just...not funny. To give an example.

I do wonder about Ennis hating superheroes, though. Going by the above quote, and by others where he says he thinks the best heroes kill their enemies, I'm guessing his view of the world is just so pessimistic that the positive ideal of "someone coming to help you" grates on him. (Again, just a guess.)

I haven't read his "Punisher" work yet, but everyone keeps telling me I have to, and if it's as funny as "Kev" I really need to check it out. The man can tell a joke, though he seems to tell it better when he has an editor to reign him in (which he didn't with "Crossed" and "The Boys").

[fatpie42]

and by others where he says he thinks the best heroes kill their enemies

Hmmm... I'm not sure that's it (though I haven't seen this specific quote from him).

In a quote I saw he was noting how odd it was in a comic where there was reams of speech taking up most of the space on the pagbe while Wolverine is slashing someone with his large sharp claws.

I think the problem for Ennis is not so much that they don't kill their enemies, but that they are unrealistic in terms of their character rather than simply their powers. Wolverine is inevitably going to kill someone if he keeps slashing at them with his claws, so the idea that he doesn't like to do that and successfully avoids it is extremely unrealistic. Also, what with what superheroes are put through, killing is sometimes a more sensible option. In the recent Dark Knight movie possibly my biggest hang-up (after Two-Face's bizarre conversion to the dark side) is Batman's decision to crash his motorcycle rather than kill an organised mass murderer on the loose. Seriously, priorities people?

I absolutely loved Ennis' "Marvel Knights" version of The Punisher. And the reason why Ennis was best suited to write it was because he's able to make The Punisher so spectacularly flawed yet still keeps us empathising. The Punisher isn't avoiding killing people, but why would he? He's a bit like TVs Dexter in a way because while he's very much an anti-hero, he nevertheless has a code of sorts (not to be cause harm to innocent people). That code doesn't make him a good person though.

[fatpie42]

Perhaps this is why Ennis disliked Iron Man in particular? Iron Man is the sort of flawed character that Ennis normally writes best. Perhaps he could see all sorts of opportunities for the franchise being closed off?

[miritsu]

Maybe. I was totally guessing based on interviews and stuff, and your interpretation fits what he said as well as mine.

[miritsu]

An addendum...I do think Iron Man is part of the superhero fantasy because he always goes back to Pepper, is always there to save the day, and genuinely wants to help people instead of just buying yachts with his bonuses. I don't like him, but he fits in with the noble ideals that superheroes tend to have. He's a guy that's there to save you, and wants to do it. Whatever problems he has, that remains true.