It's been a little over three months since we saw the first issue of this mini-series, so a reread of the first issue might be in order to refresh yourself with the characters and settings, but once that's done, Too Much Hopeless Savages is a lot of fun to read. Van Meter has a remarkably complex plot here with about a dozen major characters and three main stories, and while it runs the risk of being overly hard to follow, for the most part I find that Van Meter keeps things clear, and always entertaining. Norrie and Campbell match the script's unusual mixture of action, comedy and drama with an equal amount of versatility, and while this is definitely a story that rewards paying close attention, I'm finding it pretty enjoyable so far.
It's actually kind of amazing how much story Van Meter is throwing at the reader in this story. Arsenal is facing three or four personal crises, including a pregnancy scare, a mislaid package that has her hunted by British Secret Service and the criminals who want the package, a fight that's a rematch with a childhood bully and a strain on her relationship. Twitch and his boyfriend are also suffering a bit of a relationship crisis. The rest of the clan is trying to woo Nikki's mother back from a close-minded preacher, while Rat realizes that he's the only one in the family not currently in a relationship. Miraculously, the book never feels rushed or overly packed, but instead it just feels like Van Meter is delivering a lot of story for the page count.
I continue to be surprised at how much variety there has been in the three Hopeless Savages stories so far. Each has some of the same elements of slapstick and drama, but the first story was very much a tale of family and echoes from the past, the second a teenage love story and this one a 70's sitcom plot crossed with a Jackie Chan movie. What's surprising isn't so much that the stories are so different, but that the tone is so recognizably Hopeless Savages, and that the characters and premise are resilient enough to stand up to all of these changes. Van Meter has created some fascinating characters whose quirks and unusual backgrounds are not only entertaining in their own right, but which make them a perfect vehicle for a variety of stories. As Rat notes, in one of my favorite lines in the issue, "We're stranger than any city I've met yet."
Then there's the artwork. I've said many times how much I love Christine Norrie's work, but I'll say it again, because her work here is just fantastic. Her characters are expressive, whether it's for dramatic or humorous purposes, and in terms of the humorous aspects, the work reminds me of the classic Looney Tunes cartoons. But she can also do great action sequences, which she's called on to handle thanks to Arsenal's martial expertise and the situation that forces her to use it. Ross Campbell, the artist on the flashback sequence, is also a great find, his style noticably different from Norrie's but a perfect companion to it, and I can't wait to see his work on the upcoming Oni graphic novel Spooked.
Too Much Hopeless Savages is many things, a romantic comedy, a martial arts slapstick and a tale of international intrigue among them. Most importantly, though, it's a story about family, and while the Hopeless-Savages are more complicated and unusual than most families, the notion of brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents and extended family like significant others are the kind of things that most anyone can relate to, which gives the weirdness of the setting and the stories a solid foundation to build on.
