New Thriller Explores The ‘Criminal’ Side Of Comic-Con

When more than 150,000 fans descend on San Diego next week for the 50 edition of San Diego Comic-Con, most are there for the good time and carnival atmosphere. However, huge sums of money change hands at the convention as well, especially in the increasingly high-stakes world of comic art, where desirable pages can bring tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars and collectors go to extreme lengths to track down “grail pieces” from dealers and artists. Often those quests are complicated by the moral morass of the comic book industry, where mistreatment of creators and theft of art was commonplace for decades.

What happens when you combine desperation, big money and moral ambiguity against the backdrop of a glitzy event with a seamy underbelly? You get Bad Weekend, the latest thriller in the Criminal series of hardboiled graphic novels by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips, with colors by Jacob Phillips.

Brubaker, a fan-favorite writer who created Marvel’s Winter Soldier during a memorable run writing Captain America, among many other accomplishments in the business, knows the world of comics and Comic-Con inside out. In Bad Weekend, he blends industry lore, Comic-Con atmosphere and his own gritty view of human nature in a compelling, concise summertime thriller.

Set in 1997, one of the last years that SDCC was merely the world’s biggest comic book convention and not the epicenter of the entertainment industry, Bad Weekendfollows an aging artist named Hal Crane, who is slated to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Con. Like many artists who worked in the early days of the comics industry, Crane – who appears largely based on a real-life artist named Alex Toth – harbors few illusions about the glamour and excitement of the medium, despite being celebrated for his talent by fans and fellow professionals.

The convention recruits Crane’s former assistant Jacob to babysit him during the show and try to make sure he shows up at the panels and events he’s scheduled for. That is not a plum assignment. Crane is a mean drunk dripping with contempt for everyone and everything, and desperate enough for cash that he gets involved with some pretty sketchy folks. Soon enough, the pair gets embroiled in a caper involving art theft, violence and intrigue rooted in a decades-old mystery.

Because Brubaker knows his material so well, Bad Weekendis full of Easter eggs for sharp-eyed readers with some knowledge of the world of Comic-Con and comic art. For example, one of the highly competitive art collectors depicted in the book, a character named “David Mandrill,” bears a close resemblance to Veepand Curb Your Enthusiasmshowrunner David Mandel, highlights of whose collection was recently on loan as part of the “Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes” museum exhibition. He and Brubaker, who writes and produces for TV as well as comics, are reportedly pals.

“I feel like this is a comic I've been writing in my head most of my career," said Brubaker. "Hal Crane isn’t based on anyone in particular. But bits and pieces of his history are lifted from sad tales and sordid gossip that you hear over the years in this business, especially about the old days. Gambling. Drinking. Prostitution. Theft. Death. There’s always been a darkness at the edge of comics and I wanted to explore that in Bad Weekend. Is this a expose of the industry? Sort of, but it’s a love letter to the medium, as well.” 

Bad Weekend paints an acid-etched portrait of fandom, comics professionals and Comic-Con itself – one that rings true to anyone with connections to the industry and culture. As comics and comic art have grown in prominence, and the latter has become a very big-money business indeed, it’s important to keep it real when it comes to the shady dealings and complicated legacies that form the roots of the industry.

It’s also entertaining as hell. After more than a dozen years of the award-winning comics-noir series, Brubaker and Phillips know how to blend their art and storytelling styles into a polished page-turner. Bad Weekend: A Criminal Novellafrom Image Comics will be available in comics shops on Wednesday, July 10 and available in bookstores on Tuesday, July 16. and makes a fine summer read for anyone who’s heading to Comic-Con next week, or wishes they were.

Source: Forbes.com

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