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THE CALL OF DUTY: THE PRECINCT #2
Neutral (4/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer: Bruce Jones
Artist: Tom Mandrake
Colors: Transparency Digital
Letters: Randy Gentile
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Price: $2.25 US/$3.75 CAN |
This limited series has quickly strayed from its original purpose: to show New York City cops on the job, to take us into the world of real-life heroes. After reading The Precinct #2, I didn't feel that I had visited such a place. The story isn't even set in the main character's precinct, and instead of the ins-and-outs of police work, we're presented with more of an action-cop movie riff.
With a promotion looming, Sgt. Frank "Gunz" Gunzer is forced to take some time off, so he takes his wife Matty and brother Father Joey to a resort area for some R&R. Unfortunately, the mysterious little girl that both Gunz and Joey have seen weigh heavily on their minds, as does the death of a Queens drug dealer that just doesn't add up. Gunz's continued interest in that case spurs an underworld boss to send one of his men after the sergeant while he's on vacation.
I am a fan of Mandrake's art. I loved his work on DC's The Spectre a few years back, and his more recent work on Creeps was darkly delightful as well. His contribution to this series is strong as well, capturing the dark, mature mood of the story, as well as the hint of the supernatural that lingers around the edges. But ultimately, Mandrake's exaggerated style doesn't suit the down-to-earth nature of the book's characters.
One of the things I so enjoyed about the main character when he first appeared in backups features in various Marvel books was the banter between him and his partner, Sammy. That dynamic has disappeared, at least for this issue; I hope that it returns, and with it, a grater focus on the dreary details and the real dangers of being a big-city cop. Jones touches on the emotional toll of the job to some degree, but a lot of Gunz's angst here centers around the supernatural elements of the story, not the real-world pressures.
Jones asks a lot of readers here. We're meant to buy into the notion that in order to convince his brother to leave the priesthood and return to life as a cop that he'd allow him to chase after an armed hitman with no backup at all. And then there's the ridiculous notion of watching the priest climbing through a roller-coaster. The scene comes off more as an empty-headed Hollywood chase scene.
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