Review – Reckless: Destroy All Monsters
Review – Reckless: Destroy All Monsters
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Sean Phillips
Colourist: Jacob Phillips
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: October 20, 2021
Pages: 150
Cost: £24.99
An Ethan Reckless Novel
The next book in the red-hot RECKLESS series is here!
Bestselling crime noir masters ED BRUBAKER and SEAN PHILLIPS bring us a new original graphic novel starring troublemaker-for-hire Ethan Reckless.
“Oh man, this book pushed every crime fiction button for me…Bliss.” —PATTON OSWALT
It’s 1988, and Ethan has been hired for his strangest case yet: finding the secrets of a Los Angeles real estate mogul. How hard could that be, right? But what starts as a deep dive into the life of a stranger will soon take a deadly turn, and Ethan will risk everything that still matters to him.
Another smash hit from the award-winning creators of RECKLESS, PULP, MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN JUNKIES, CRIMINAL, and KILL OR BE KILLED-and a must-have for all BRUBAKER and PHILLIPS fans
Writer: Ed Brubaker
A good book should feel like a comfortable chair, making you relaxed and refreshed after a stressful day and Destroy All Monsters does that and more. It’s such a refreshing but familiar book, even though I have never picked up the Reckless series of books before today.
Ethan Reckless is a grumpy old PI, living in an abandoned movie theatre near Venice Beach. The book opens with the theatre in flames and Reckless knocked out by a masked assailant.
After a few pages of darkness (great touch for some on knocked out) we’re going back through the cases that led here from the Case of the Dirty Diapers to the main case. Reckless is older, slower and needs help from his assistant Anna to spot clues and save himself from his own errors.
Brubaker’s Reckless is a deeply flawed, but somehow perfect character, too withdrawn to engage with others but too passionate to drop things when the going gets tough. With bent cops, LA orgies and a PI that’s “too old for this shit!” it’s a delight to read.
Artist: Sean Phillips
Philips’ work is a perfect marriage to Brubaker’s broody script. It drips with the 80s nostalgia and his layout and panelling add just the right pacing and tension to the script. I feel I should highlight one of the most issue’s best images, where Reckless imagines Anna moving across LA, making anyone who’s ever been stuck in a crowded commute toes curl. I know nothing about LA highways but Philips adeptly shows Reckless’s stress about the drive on the 405.
Overall Thoughts
This is the perfect companion for a train trip or flight where you need to forget your surrounding and melt into the book. at 150 pages you get a novel’s worth of heavy plot, strong but relatable characters and a sting in the tale (ahem) but that’s another story, as they say.
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If you enjoyed our review, look out for Reckless: Destroy All Monsters at your Local Comic Shop
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