“Bad Ass” #1, by Marc Alan Fishman – Snarky Synopsis | @MDWorld

February 2, 2014 Marc Fishman 0 Comments

Story by Herik Hanna, Art by Bruno Bessadi and Gaetan Georges

I truly hoped that jumping in on a new indie(ish) title after reacclimatizing myself back to the big two would be a breath of fresh air. I’d seen a brief synopsis on my local shop’s site proclaiming “Bad Ass” to be a Deadpoolesque jaunt combining the best parts of the chimichanga-guzzler’s humor with a darker-twinged mean streak. Well? Who ever wrote that synopsis – desperate Dynamite marketing department I’m looking at you… – should be commended. Not only did they lie well-enough to get me to buy the book, but they almost tricked me into believing them after my read through. Almost being the operative word. “Bad Ass” #1 is almost funny, almost interesting, and almost worth your time.

Here’s the plot from start to finish: Dead End is a hired hitman, and all around a-hole. He’s a former pimple-faced nerd who got beat up all the time, and generally spat at by all who surrounded him. He strolls into an associates’ underground lair, and proceeds to murder the entire gang therein. Just as he’s about to stroll out, satchel of stolen loot in hand… another assassin associate makes herself known, and we end with them ready to duke it out in issue 2.

 

How I yearn for the energy to have somehow extrapolated that paragraph above into something witty. I wish there was a simple excuse that the biggest issue of the comic was somehow lost in translation. On the title page, it declares one Fabrice Sapolsky as handling the translation. Sadly? It’s not that the book is hard to understand, or without literary or visual flair. It’s just that the book is so by-the-book that by issue’s end, I’m left wondering what the point is to publishing original material in a post-modern world anyways? Do you see that Herik Hanna? Because of the schlock you’re producing… I’m having an existential crisis.

If you looked towards the aforementioned Dynamite marketing department, you’d no doubt see the real work-horses of this issue. Thanks to them, every major comic news outpost published a 5 page preview. Every preview came in-tow with a carefully worded blurb guaranteed to hit all the perfect notes. They cite Kick-Ass and Deadpool as compatriots. This would be akin to Burger King selling you their new ‘Big King’ (2 all beef FLAME-BROILED patties, pickles, onions, lettuce, special sauce on a sesame bun…) as being ‘compared to such irreverent sandwiches as the ‘Big Mac’. Simply put: “Bad Ass” is literally Kick Ass added to Deadpool, and spurted out on the page without so much as an ounce of originality.

In terms of the actual words on the page? They suffice. Dead End is snarky, witty, mean-spirited, and occasionally funny. I say occasionally because the times I snickered were only when my brain recognized the text on the page as being “intended or designed to amuse”. The entertainment that can be squeezed from the pulp here stems solely in the world-building. With evil dragon-men, and a femme-fatale who has a Mozart and a cat fetish? It’s clear that the aim of the series is hardly in realism. The cover being an homage to the old Nick Fury book isn’t half bad either. Boil it down and you have a book that it built for you to not care so much. Turn your brain off, and forget what you know? You might leave thinking you’d read something of note.

Visuals by Mr. Bessadi are not quite John Romita Jr., but they more than suffice. Bessadi’s layouts are pretty, and uncomplicated. Because he fills every panel with details, it’s nice that we never have more than 6 per page. And with a clever drop-out of the environment every now and again, the book reads quickly and sharply. Dead End’s design is as you’d expect it to be; black suit, black tie, impossibly slick mask. And speaking of things that are impossibly slick? Forgive me for breaking off the art critique:

Someone needs to teach the fine folks behind this book that even in the amazingly malleable worlds of comedy and comic books… a cigarette, no matter how diligently flicked, should not, can not, simply will not ever be able to embed itself in the eyes of three henchmen due to ricochet. Ever. But I digress.

“Bad Ass“ #1 is a lesson in marketing. Faced with a book that is devoid of original thought or visuals (save perhaps for Amadeus Kitty), they found a way to highlight the obvious, and spin it into gold. It’s akin to Hitchcock showing you the gun under the table at the beginning of the scene. Except in this case, Hitchcock just told you “If you like Deadpool and Kick-Ass, we’re going to regurgitate it to you, and damnit you’ll like it!” Sorry Dynamite, I have mad respect for your ability to make me care… but shame on me if I let you let me care ever again. “Bad Ass” would be better served with proper punctuation: “Bad, Ass.”