Jungle Action… via le Carre

The comic-industry tradition of inviting a celebrated author from outside the medium to craft and guide stories in the hopes of adding a new direction to an older, existing character and, more importantly for the business, of capturing the attention, and funding, of a new audience has met with mixed responses over the years. However, the introduction of new blood is generally viewed favorably. Judd Winick worked in pop-drama, Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker had high-crime sensibilities, while Kevin Smith was… slow. And, sometimes that outsider’s vision must be tempered and edited to mix in with the established beat of the channel. Consumers sometimes do not get that instant gratification as the writer produces a slow burn. Here then, is Ta-Nehisi Coates’ introduction to Black Panther in A Nation Under Our Feet.

Coates goes forth and makes the Panther’s home nation of Wakanda the central character, going so far as even providing a map of the fictional locale. He questions the idea of a monarchy and postulates the beginnings of revolutions, be they philosophical or physical. He asks how a nation recovers from tragedy, and how it dreams of grandeur. Pretty lofty and exciting ideas for a mere comic book. However, in doing so, Coates nearly neglects the title character, the Black Panther himself. The result, is a slow, political read with flashes of action, like John le Carre set in Africa.

Coates’ story is tempting. How often does a superhero, and a member of the Avengers at that, have to deal with true-to-life democracy? Certainly, other established monarchs, such as Namor and DC’s Aquaman, spend much more time off the throne than actually on. The story can also be confusing with many elements and discussions occurring off-panel, the establishing of new players without full introductions. and the setup, coming off previous storylines, can especially be puzzling for new readers to the character.

However, Brian Stelfreeze’s magnificent artwork aside, the tease to the upcoming pay-off does tease well and provides insight into Coates’ long-play. Hopefully the end game will be worth it. And, maybe, we will get to see King T’Challa in the jungle action adventure he deserves.

As Always,

theJOE

The Night Manager: No Martinis, Not Enough Booms

Full disclosure here. Even though I have read other Le Carré selections, The Night Manager only came to my attention by way of AMC’s fantastic miniseries. That miniseries, which I highly recommend watching, was one of those rare instances where the adaptation slightly exceeds the source material. The miniseries edited out much of the backroom politics and verbal backstabbing, which Le Carré excels at, and was replaced with character drama, situational tension, physical action of all types, and explosions, which, cliché or not as a truth, Americans most eagerly respond to.

The Night Manager, the novel, with its grimy locales, dry dialogue, and political guesswork in hopes to obtain knighthood, probably presents a more accurate take of a modern day spy more so than England’s reigning pop-culture Superman, James Bond, as well as, you know, the alluring looks of Tom Hiddleston. A spy who crawls into deep, tight situations, conspires with uncomfortable characters, and, one would think, doesn’t rely on pithy one-liners during a bout of fisticuffs, is exactly Jonathan Pine’s role in the story; even though he does get to throw the occasional punch, as well as take one. Or a dozen. If anything, the true hero of the tale is Pine’s MI-6 contact Burr, the protagonist with a raging desire to take down, once-and-for-bloody-all, drug-runner and arms-broker Richard Roper, who has been tagged with the title “The Worst Man in the World”. As such, he fails to be awarded with a corporate beer sponsorship.

While Pine’s plight is definitely the more sexy one of the story, Burr gets a great deal of attention as he seeks to fight evil internally not only among his peers at the Riverhouse, but to do so with bureaucracy. Friends, bureaucracy ain’t sexy. And it can make for an overly-lengthy read. Burr is a fun character to get into, he’s strong and just, which gives the many overly-dry chapters that John Le Carré is known for a reason to continue. The American male side of me, however, was waiting for the explosions. Waiting for that denouement of “Ha-ha! Got you Dickie Roper!” But Le Carré doesn’t work that way, frustratingly so.

The Night Manager is a long, slow read that is probably a great representation of deep cover sting work but makes for a tiring read, with a resolution that is unfulfilled and wanting. What was missing were a few more well-placed explosions.

As Always,

theJOE