ROB'S NOTE: May has become the go-to month of the Comic’s Industry (even
though National Superhero Day is late April, but whatever… Congress…
pshaw). It is when Marvel drops their
big movie of the year. May also sees the
annual Free Comic Book Day celebration take place on the first Saturday of the
Month, so I hope you all got to check that out.
May also has 31 days of the month so what better way to celebrate the
wonderful world of sequential art with the 31 Days of Comics?
Seth Hahne, who runs the blog GoodOkBad,
has put together the 31 Days of Comics challenge. A daily challenge in which you are given a
category and you have to fill it with a comic that you think fits it the
best. You’re all on the internet, I
shouldn’t have to explain it to you. For
the rest of the month I will be taking this challenge. It is my hope it encourages others to make
and share their own lists either in the comments here or on their own
websites. The sharing not only might
turn comic fans on to works they have yet to sample but maybe catch the eye of
a few non-comic fans and highlight the diversity of the form.
Our prompt for Day 30 “A truly smart comic.”
Super Spy
By Matt Kindt
The word
genius is thrown around way too much in this day and age. It’s like “epic” in that regard. Add bacon to a meal? “You’re a genius.” Find a way to schedule a four day weekend
during your college years? “Genius!”
Watch a stand-up comic who doesn’t suck? “That guy is a comedic
genius!” It’s tired and over-played. And by using the word genius to describe
things that really only are “pretty clever” we devalue the word.
So believe
me when I say that Matt Kindt is a goddamn genius.
I
legitimately could have put any one of Kindt’s solo works on this list. His original graphic novel Red Handed has one
of the most brilliant plot twists and themes I’ve ever seen. His monthly series Mind Mgmt from Dark Horse
is not only has one of the most tightly plotted stories in years it
consistently does things with the comic book form that I have never seen
before. In fact I probably didn’t pick
Mind Mgmt because I’m afraid I’d miss an example of his brilliance and not only
undersell its genius but also make myself look like an idiot.
But by no
means is Super Spy any less brilliant than any of those mentioned above.
Kindt uses
two techniques that are often tried by other creators in various media: that of
non-linear storytelling and various stories that seem unrelated coming together
to form a full narrative. What makes
Kindt’s work distinct is they aren’t tricks intended to make his work seem more
sophisticated, but rather they elevate the work and even come about
organically.
When I
picked up Super Spy I didn’t know much about it other than I really like
Kindt’s work on Mind Mgmt. I appreciated
his take on a “super-powered” espionage group in that book and wanted to see
how he handled more “real-world” spy craft (in my mind all this meant was super
powers). To my surprise Kindt really did
focus on the reality of the spy game.
There was no James Bondian excess in Super Spy. As I started the book I thought I was reading
a very well researched and well done graphic novel collecting short stories
about unconnected spies during World War II.
I said
earlier that his brilliance was in the organic aspect of how he uses his
technique. As the stories become
connected together you realize that it is not because of authorial technique
but by the very nature of espionage that the main characters don’t
interact. A spy often works disconnected
from others. It increases the paranoia
and intrigue of the book to realize that many of these characters are not only
on their own, but the success of their mission can be put in jeopardy if any single
one of them makes a mistake.
Kindt’s
artwork and coloring choices (linked to specific time periods and/or locations)
are amazing. The story and characters
are great. I’d explain more about
Kindt’s brilliance but to do so would be to step all over the plot and this is
something that needs to be read to appreciate.
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