indie box: Scene of the Crime

Tags

crime, DC Comics, Ed Brubaker, indie box, Indie Comics, michael lark, scene of the crime

This week’s pick from the indie box isn’t even indie, having been published by DC Comics, but it has an indie feel and showcases the talents of two future superstars. Scene of the Crime is an early collaboration between Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark, who would later do an amazing run together on Daredevil at Marvel.

Scene of the Crime follows the adventures of a private investigator as he unravels an increasingly sinister and fucked-up story, and I wanted to love it. It would probably make a solid movie. But after the second issue, I was flipping through pages to see the big reveal. The narration in the captions starts in first gear on page one and never really accelerates, and the art is sometimes too clean when it could use more grit and grime.

Scene of the Crime faces a structural problem in that we as readers get hints that the investigator has some past tragedy, but we don’t get told what it is until the final pages. This makes it feel more like a postscript than something crucial to understanding the character’s motivations, and by the time we get there, the main story is basically over. So, did it really matter? It feels like it didn’t.

Despite its flaws, Scene of the Crime is a glimpse into the early days of a writer and artist team who eventually crafted tightly-wound, tense crime stories. The four-issue series shows the team has the ability to tell a complex tale of crime and mystery, and I see it as a stepping stone to later masterpieces such as the Brubaker/Lark run on Daredevil and Brubaker’s epic collaboration with Sean Phillips on Criminal, one of my all-time favorite comic book series.

Collector’s Guide: Scene of the Crime; DC Comics, 1999

What If Aunt May Had Died Instead of Uncle Ben?

Tags

Aunt May, Ed Brubaker, Peter Parker, Spider-man, Uncle Ben, What If

Last year, we shared with you our favorite “What If” story: What If Spider-man had Stopped the Burglar Who Killed Uncle Ben? One of our readers told us he liked today’s story better – because Peter does not become a complete jerk! So today, let’s read another “What If” scenario on the origin of Spider-man. This time around, Uncle Ben was at the store when the burglar broke in, and Aunt May died instead. Writer Ed Brubaker replaces The Watcher with a guy in a Watcher t-shirt to spin this tale.

Collector’s Guide:
– From What If Aunt May had Died instead of Uncle Ben #1; Marvel, 2005.