As much as I hold superhero comics near and dear to my heart, I'm always excited when a fan favorite creator returns to what put them on the map in the first place: creator-owned comics. In this case, high profile writer Greg Rucka (Detective Comics, Action Comics) returns to Oni Press (with whom he previously published Whiteout and Queen & Country) with Stumptown, territory not unfamiliar to its author but engaging nonetheless.
Stumptown follows Dex, a PI that has a severe money management problem mostly due to gambling it away in a Native American casino. With a mentally challenged little brother at home under her care, Dex is far from a role model. Placing him in front of video games to keep him occupied while she goes out and gets herself shot up isn't exactly a guardian-like thing to do. Regardless, it provides a great starting point for us readers and fast tracks Stumptown's world building process.
Rucka is known for his strong female leads - Carrie Stetko, Renee Montoya, Kate Kane - and Dex, at least by all indications of this first issue, will be no different. She's got a familiar personality we've come to associate with down-on-their-luck private investigators, but it's the circumstances surrounding her that make her unique. The aforementioned brother provides some semblance of domestication for a self-destructive workaholic; though she may not act on it, at least in this first issue, having the brother character in the picture provides a great emotional balance for Dex as she can't allow herself to go completely over the edge because of the brother that relies on her.
One particularly great example of how Rucka builds the Stumptown community is in his use of repeatedly having the various characters Dex comes into contact with ask how her brother is doing. Instantly, the reader gets a picture painted of Dex's role within the city, the types of people she associates with, and her day-to-day life in general. Though the circumstances to this story obviously seem extreme, the mundane familiarity of this simple question suggests that perhaps this is how Dex's life operates always.
Dex's gambling addiction is also a great character flaw that essentially provides the plot of this first storyarc. When she finds herself in debt to her regular casino, the casino's owner sends her on a case to work off her debt by finding her missing granddaughter. As we discover in the opening pages, Dex may have fallen into a bit more than the $18,000 she owes. In all, one 40 page issue is all Rucka needs to build a brand new, interesting character that will hopefully guide us through many detective tales to come.
Matthew Southworth's artwork is a great fit for the kind of tale that Rucka is intent on telling, it's reminiscent of Michael Lark's work on books like Daredevil and Gotham Central, with a nice dash of Sean Phillips thrown in for good measure. His panel outlines and word bubbles are jagged, giving the hand drawn impression that is missing from so many comics today. Simple things like these add to the reality-based comic that Rucka is writing, as in a strange fourth-dimensional way it mirrors the "do-it-yourself" attitude that Dex carries. The same applies to his character work. Lots of sketch lines, heavy inks, and a style based firmly in a world of grit and seedy characters.
Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth have provided a solid, exciting basis for a new series with Stumptown #1, and I can't wait to continue the ride next month. Provided Dex doesn't gamble her life away, that is.
