Thursday, March 16, 2017

Injustice Book Review: Dane Curse by Matt Abraham

Cower not, fierce reader! Today we have a book that combines genres, archetypes, and conventions in a way that will absolutely trigger the forces of Social Justice. I found this book through a site that gave favorable review of Marina Fontaine's Chasing Freedom recently, Literary Rebel. I took a look, and they aren't tied with any of the "movement" groups that have been springing up on the side of Injustice(which serve good purposes). Rather, this group appears to be more broad in their tastes, and explores fiction with an anti-SocJus bent in many genres. The tagline is "Books, for guys who like books".  I might soon be doing some more standard book reviews there, though my name may not be on them.

Anyway, that's enough of the preamble: on to the charges!

First charge: This author clearly loves Mickey Spillane, and Mike Hammer books in particular. The authorities of literature and Social Justice have been railing against Mike Hammer for DECADES. And I don't mean one or two. I mean since the beginning, 1947. For those not in the know, Hammer is violent, loves women, and likes killing criminals. He's got a hot secretary he eventually gets together with. While there's a few other influences here and there, Mike Hammer is the PI that comes through loud and clear, and thank God.

Second charge: There's a theme of redemption here. Oh, it's not blatant throughout, but it shows itself by the end. That a criminal might get out, and try to redeem himself is hardly a new story. It's not even new in comics: Astro City did something along that line in The Tarnished Angel. It's not a comic, so why did I mention comics?

Because, third: It steals everything it can from superhero comics, and treats it with respect. Not the type that says it's sancrosanct, and not the type that wants to change what they are to their vision of the world. Rather, this takes forms comics have, and have had, and loves them, by applying them to their neighbors in ill repute, the pulp crime detective novel.

Charge the fourth: There's a local government agency to deal with cape crime. (See Powers for a capes police procedural) But can you trust them? Why would anyone trust the government? They lie, conceal, and blatantly avoid the truth when it suits them.

Anyway, somebody PLEASE get Matt Abraham an artist, a letterer, and bring this beauty to panels. I felt like I was reading Spillane, or Max Allan Collins(why hasn't he done something like this? He's played in both worlds), and like I was reading one of the best hero comics at the SAME BLASTED TIME. If you like superheros, pulp crime, or just plain adventure, this book will rock your world. If you like Social Justice, well, there's powered dames. 9 of 10 fell deeds

When you play Social Justice, the world loses.

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