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MADROX #3
"Dead Dirty Pool"
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Marvel Comics/Marvel Knights
Writer: Peter David
Pencils: Pablo Raimondi
Inks: Drew Hennessy
Colors: Brian Reber
Letters: Cory Petit
Editor: Andy Schmidt
Price: $2.99 US/$4.25 CAN |
At some point, everyone has been of two minds about something. Not sure what to do you, you argue with yourself in your head trying to come to a conclusion. Jamie Madrox does the same thing, he just has the conversation out loud with duplicates of himself, and the arguments are sometimes more like panel discussions. That's only one of the neat ideas Peter David explores in this issue of Madrox, which is so full of neat ideas and clever little bits of characterization that it could serve as "Exhibit A" in a court case about whether or not seemingly lame characters can actually become cool in the hands of good writers. If the neat ideas are the sundae, though, the fudge topping is that the mystery plot driving the book forward is pretty solid as well, and the cherry on top is the gorgeous artwork of Raimondi, Hennessy and Reber.
It's kind of funny, given that Madrox has a number of duplicates and can survive the loss of any one of them save maybe the original, the threat of death to this character sort of takes on another dimension. David has managed to reintroduce the actual spectre of death into a superhero comic-book, because he really could kill off his lead character, in fact numerous times, and still have the character to write about. He doesn't go overboard with this kind of thing, though, and there are only a couple of close calls in the issue, each of which serves to showcase how others really feel about Madrox and, to some extent, how he feels about himself.
That's really the brilliance of this issue, and perhaps of the whole series. It's got a neat premise, as Madrox sets up a private investigation business in Mutant Town, one of the best original ideas introduced into Marvel in the last 10 years, but that's really off to the side a bit. This is character-driven stuff, as David really digs into some of the strange touches that life might have if you were able to divide yourself. Nothing quite so outrageous as Morrison's twisted and funny notion of a Madrox group sex scene in New X-Men, but certainly interesting exploration of such an off-beat power. Having to actually argue with yourself to get things done. Seeing minor aspects of your personality become full-fledged driving forces in your duplicates. Dealing with existential questions about sexuality or life and death by talking it out without having to pay a therapist the big bucks. David slips up rarely, such as the case where he explains that Madrox would duplicate handcuffs put on him but doesn't really explain how or why, and most of the uses of Madrox's powers here and in the previous two issues are neat, clever and the kind of thing that seems obvious in retrospect even if you never would have thought of it beforehand.
Then there's the work being done by Raimondi, Hennessy and Reber on the artwork. Raimondi's characters seem more real, although not quite as rigid as the photo-referenced styles of Greg Land or Steve Epting that it sometimes reminds me of. These are people, first and foremost, not costumes, and that approach gives the book a nice touch of reality as well as an ease of reading factor. This style doesn't stop at giving the characters distinctive and very human looks, but extends to wrinkled clothes, gorgeous settings and some really nice focus on small moments that have a lot of storytelling importance. I could quibble and say that this more realistic approach doesn't really serve the exaggerated physique of Strong Guy, or that Raimondi's take on Bishop doesn't really match up visually with the character we've seen elsewhere, but these are minor gripes to an otherwise excellent art performance. 9/10
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