Brian Vaughan has been a writer that I've been watching for a while now, enjoying sporadically, but I don't think I've ever been as happy to be reading his stuff as I am right now. In addition to creating Y: The Last Man, one of the best new titles of 2002, over at Vertigo, he has been quietly crafting a dark, emotional morality play with Kyle Hotz for Marvel's MAX imprint. The Hood is about a man getting super-powers and using them for evil, not good, a novel enough twist on the concept, and Vaughan and Hotz are exploring the idea with all of its dark potential twists, showing us that the lead character Parker is human while not playing down the monstrous nature of some of his actions. It's a fascinating look at the flip-side of super-heroes.
Vaughan does not let Parker, the protagonist, off the hook in this issue. We don't learn that the cop he accidentally shot was on the take or brutal or anything else in the opening scenes. Instead we learn that he was a good guy, that he had a wife who loved him and that he was well-liked by the other men and women on the force. The beauty of all this setup is that when we see Parker, we assume that he's repentant for shooting a cop, but instead he's really only repentant for how it affects him and his friend.
Not that Parker is completely inhuman. His devotion to his friend, and his refusal to take the easy way out with him, speaks of a bond of friendship stronger than most can boast, and he is obviously deeply conflicted about his relationship with a prostitute while his pregnant girlfriend sits at home waiting for him. Remarkably, though Parker looks like an absolute creep and monster from the outside, Vaughan has managed to humanize the character, and even if he is really the bad guy of the piece, he remains the protagonist, and readers will find themselves unconsciously sympathizing with him.
Parker lives in a dark world, and Hotz and Powell bring that world to life in vivid detail. Hotz's exaggerated anatomy is perfect for the book, especially his take on the Hood costume or the usually goofy A.I.M. uniforms, and their work on shadows is unbelievable. There's a sense that everything is taking place at night, that the daylight world most of us live in is as distant as another country to these people, and it helps to really set the tone for the book.
Leaving aside how much I love the general style of the book, there's plenty to like in the details as well. The dialogue between the FBI agents, whether interrogating John or talking about their methods of tracking the Hood, is perfect, and the mysteries of the powers and origin of the Hood remains an intriguing subplot. The Hood is one of the best books to come out of the MAX imprint so far, and I certainly wouldn't mind seeing further collaborations between Vaughan and Hotz.
