Jack Cross #1

For his work on THE AUTHORITY alone Warren Ellis gets a four issue pass from me on any new book he writes. So it will be few months before I have to decide if I really like JACK CROSS enough to continue with it, but this first issue left me very underwhelmed. And it seems, based on the reviews I’ve read, I’m very much in the minority with that opinion.

Maybe it’s my own bias working against the book. Using the CIA or CIA operatives as the bad guys has pretty much run its course for me. They’ve become the low hanging fruit of fictional antagonists – I guess all the Nazi’s have gotten too old - and while the Wilkie character we get here seems unlikely to be the main villain (if there’s even to be one) still seemed obvious and forced. Equally forced was Cross’s deduction that he was CIA at all. Was the possibility that Wilkie had some training in resistance to interrogation enough to deduce that he was CIA? And what exactly makes Cross leap to the conclusion that Wilkie’s working, “his own game”?

The whole interrogation sequence is where the book fell apart for me. If you accept the fact that Cross is some kind of interrogation expert – and the scene seems largely designed to prove that – would he really need to shoot the man’s fingers off to “break him”? Isn’t the modern perspective on interrogation that overt violence merely gets an answer not necessarily a truthful one? And since time wasn’t set up as the enemy in this case, why the rush? To me it just read like a set piece designed to show how smart and tough our hero can be and of course to balance against the inner conflict of really being a peace activist. (I’m guessing by “political activism” he meant peace but I think it’s very possible Cross is gay and perhaps that is what he’s referring to.)

Not much here resonates with me. One of Ellis’s strengths has always been to let his characters drive the plot and here it feels like they’re in service to it. In fact the book feels a bit over-plotted, although that may play out in time. The art is solid and suitable to the material, although I had a difficult time telling some of the players apart as Gary Erskine’s faces tend to be quite similar. And I’m still not sure just what transpired with the whole PAGAD/nuclear suitcase business.

I’m one of the few who isn’t raving over this issue so maybe I’m missing something and I’ll certainly give it time to play out. Perhaps I was expecting too much from this first issue but Ellis has my expectations permanently raised so any which way it’s his fault. I’m hopeful the next few issues are better.

Comments

[Jim Roeg]

You're not alone, Kurt. I had mixed feelings about this issue as well, particularly the torture scene as an illustration of Jack's expertise. I like the premise, though, so I'm hopeful...

[Chris]

Right on, brother! Couldn't agree with you more. Thanks for checking out the blog, too!

[Zilla]

i'm w/ you also - nothing grand here for me. seems very "done" to me as i read it. meh.

[Ryan X]

You guys sound like a bunch of movie critics! I agree that it isn't "new" or whatever, but who cares about realistic interrogation techniques that go on for weeks or months? Blowing a dude's digits off in the first minutes of interrogation is kick ass! That's why it's a comic book, but that's just me. Agree that the suitcase scene had me a little baffled as well, but I still have a lot of hope for this title.

[Joshua Peterman]

You're right, I was left a little sour after reading what that theif did to my work, my 5 year old version of the same story (same characters) ends a little better.

[DrObvious]

This really struck me as Bizzaro-Ocean, and not in a good way.