by Randy Lander

WANTED #2 "Fuck You" Recommended (8/10) Image Comics/Top Cow Productions Writer: Mark Millar Artist: J.G. Jones Colors: Paul Mounts Letters: Dreamer Designs Price: $2.99 US/$4.60 CAN What would happen if the supervillains won? For the answer to that one, you need to pick up DC's Empire. What if supervillains won and were foul-mouthed, sex-crazed, completely amoral bastards? Well, that's where you come to Wanted for the answer. As per usual, Millar's take on this tale of genre what if is over-the-top, with the characters casually engaging in murder, torture, rape and mass brainwashing and history altering. These are bad, bad guys, not misunderstood average people or heroes gone wrong but outright bastards who have somehow gotten the upper hand. It makes for a fascinating read on one level, but on another I keep looking for any character to empathize with or care about and I'm having a hard time. My hope is that Millar has more up his sleeve than a downward spiral of depravity, because that kind of thing could get old, but there are enough interesting ideas and car wreck compelling scenes, ably illustrated by JG Jones, to keep my attention for now. Wanted may read for some folks like wish fulfilment, and I'm afraid that those people would scare me. We've all wanted to tell the boss to go to hell or to find out that we're secretly someone more important. I like to think, however, that most of us haven't hoped that our alternate life would involve mass murder and casual rape. So far, Wanted reads kind of like the Harry Potter story, except that instead of finding out that he's a boy wizard, Harry finds out that he's a complete bastard. And he likes it. There are a lot of compelling ideas here, including the revelation of what happened to the heroes and how, but I worry that Millar doesn't have a protagonist yet... Wesley looked like the most likely candidate, but his complete lack of misgiving over his new life pretty much puts him into the bastard camp as well. Millar is in dark territory here, because Wesley started out as a pathetic wretch but his journey in this issue takes him right past self-confident and right on past into sociopathic. There is no hint of doubt in his narrative voice, no remorse for his actions, just a chilling and unemotional recounting of his descent into casual violence and sex. The tone is one of dark comedy, and for the most part Millar manages to keep it funny despite Wesley's cruel actions thanks to the unsympathetic victims of his rage, but I do wonder how long this kind of thing will remain funny. There's a plot element involving Wesley's father and who killed him, and Millar introduces a "villain" who is meant to be a bigger bastard, but given what the characters have done, it's such a small matter of degrees. Wanted has a strong concept and good writing (if a little heavy on Millar's familiar shock tactic style), and it is matched with fantastic artwork courtesy of JG Jones. Jones doesn't get any really cool action sequences this issue like he did in the first, but he still shines throughout. The believable world that Wesley lives in makes a big difference in terms of making his transition into this secret society feel more real and effective, and Jones does an equally good and detailed job on the superscience headquarters of the villains. Wanted is a creator-owned series from Millar, but it's clear that the roots of the book lie in the superhero books we've all read. There are a lot of familiar faces lurking amongst the villains, and the fate of the three big heroes revealed in this issue make it pretty clear specifically who Millar has in mind for those roles as well. This blending of other superhero universes, the real world and the fiction of Wanted is either very clever or somewhat tasteless, and I suspect folks will disagree on which side of the line the book falls. Which is sort of the dilemma I'm facing on the book in general, but so far the gorgeous art and unusual nature of the story have me intrigued. Email Randy Lander comments about this review.