This is the third of the Vertigo Pop! series, and what strikes me most is how different Vankin's take on the concept has been from Peter Milligan's. Vankin is probably truer to the whole Vertigo Pop! concept, with stories that focus as much on the culture as the characters and the plot, but so far I find that Milligan was the guy who wrote the best Vertigo Pop! story. That said, while I found Tokyo to be something of a jumbled mess, I'm intrigued by the first issue of Bangkok, which introduces a passive-aggressive couple not unlike the one in Antony Johnston's Three Days in Europe and sets them in Bangkok, a very rich and deeply corrupt setting for a story. And the art, by Hellblazer artist Camuncoli and inker Shawn Martinbrough, upholds the high art standards begun by Seth Fisher and Phillip Bond in the other two Vertigo Pop! series.
Vankin is writing something kind of difficult with this book, as he has a couple of lead characters who are deliberately made unlikable. His narrator is a self-proclaimed "Psycho Bitch from Hell" who comes off as vindictive and judgmental despite her good intentions about animal rights, and her boyfriend is the very definition of "ugly American." Perhaps the story is meant to contrast the corruption and shady nature of Bangkok against the western version of corruption with the two protagonists, but I couldn't help feeling that the story would have been stronger had the characters not been people I don't mind being put through a variety of problems.
I do have to respect Vankin's ability to bring the city of Bangkok to life. He's clearly done a fair bit of travel in his time, not just from his portrayal of Americans abroad but in his use of little details to tell the story of Bangkok. From the elephant on the street to the dirty water to the sex clubs, this issue is full of the flavor of Bangkok, and if the true reason for the Vertigo Pop! series is to explore other cultures, it's hard not to consider Vertigo Pop! Bangkok #1 a success in that regard.
I'm not sure if Camuncoli and Martinbrough have been to Bangkok as well, but if they haven't, they still do a great job of making it seem as if they have. Granted, I've never been there and can't judge for certain whether they've captured the city, but it does seem like they've given the city and its inhabitants a unique look that matches perfectly the tone of Vankin's script. And a lot of the sleazy elements of the story come through in the artwork, especially in the double-page splash of the sex club that Marz is taken to.
Vertigo Pop! Bangkok isn't really a story that speaks to me as much as Vertigo Pop! London, but it's very much personal taste, and I can definitely see some excellent craft at work here. Though I find both Marz and his girlfriend Tuesday pretty vile as people, I don't deny that Vankin makes them interesting, and the plot at work here is certainly far more lucid and straight-forward than the one from Vertigo Pop! Tokyo, while having enough complexity at the same time.
