Graphic Novel Friday: Spotlight on Rick Remender

Creator, writer, and sometimes artist Rick Remender has been on a tear lately, piling heaps of mainstream and indie projects onto his plate. He’s already wrapped up his supersized battlebot series Gigantic (Spring 2010), closed the book on his superhero deconstruction in The End League (also Spring 2010), and penned what I've been dreading the most: the end of Fear Agent. For fans, it is bittersweet that Dark Horse recently published the penultimate chapter, Fear Agent Vol. 5: I Against I, indicating that the end is nigh.

I Against I opens with the aftermath of a bang heard at the close of Vol. 4: Hatchet Job. Perennial anti-hero and space cowboy Heath Huston crash-lands on a desert planet with a pack of stowaway poltergeists. He narrowly escapes, but runs smack-dab into a herd of carnivorous insects and their venom-filled pincers. After that, things really start to get weird.

Heath awakens under the careful watch of a woman who resembles his ex-wife, Charlotte--the same woman he left light years behind in a distant galaxy. This is but one of the mounting mysteries in the dusty outpost of "Heaven," where snarling, drippy aliens dress as outlaws, and mum's the word on why the citizens cower at the sight of the town heavy. Spiraling down the rabbit hole, Heath's inevitable confrontation with the local man in black gives new meaning to the term "dead ringer."

Back from hiatus, original series artist Tony Moore matches Remender's Space Western narrative with stylized, frenetic artwork and high expression. The ending arrives only too quickly, and is naturally an inexplicable cliffhanger--especially cruel given that details on the final volume's release date have been slim.

But Remender didn't exhaust his appetite for by-the-throat violence with Fear Agent. In between projects, he kicked off The Last Days of American Crime from Radical Comics, a series of three 64-page books released a few months apart. Book 1 launched in January, and if it's any indication as to the level of hard-nosed crime that may lie ahead, fans are in for a treat. The central premise is a bit tough to swallow, though: "In the not-too-distant future, as a final response to terrorism and crime, the U.S. government plans in secret to broadcast a signal making it impossible for anyone to knowingly commit unlawful acts." Thankfully, Remender does not dwell for too long on the comic book logistics. Instead, he focuses on what he does best: characters.

Interior artist Greg Tocchini's work is entirely new to me, and I'd love to see more. It's serpentine; the characters slink through the pages, and the imagery can writhe. In one panel, a femme fatale blows a smoke ring into protagonist Graham Bricke's face, and the haze morphs into what looks like a shallow pool breaking over the man. It's a rare moment of subtlety, but it lends weight to the rest of the breakneck pacing. Book 1 features outstanding colors, too, and since they aren't outright credited to anyone, I have to assume they're all Tocchini. Watch for Book 2 in March.

Readers may also recognize Remender's name thanks to his recent high profile stint on Marvel Comics' Punisher series. I picked up the Dark Reign collection with art by Jeremy Opena (another Fear Agent collaborator), and haven't enjoyed the embittered vigilante this much since Jim Lee's run on the series in the late 1980s. The book opens with a chapter-long chase scene after The Punisher's failed assassination attempt on Norman Osborn raises the ire of super-powered stooge The Sentry. Readers can almost hear the writer cackling as he puts Frank Castle through the ringer and gives him outlandish weapons out of Hank Pym's arsenal and more. I have not yet read the follow-up volume, Dead End, but am really looking forward to the Dead and Alive storyline, where Remender reportedly lends his B-movie sensibilities to the title.  

There's barely enough time to catch a breath between projects, making it easy to avoid dwelling on Fear Agent's impending farewell. Chin up. There are plenty of thrills ahead.