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Tuesday 28 January 2020

Death or Glory, Volume 1 Review (Rick Remender, Bengal)


Glory’s pa needs a liver transplant. Luckily her ex is in deep with the mob and she knows about a cash drop she can heist - but things don’t go quite so peachy. I know, shocking right - who knew ripping off gangsters would land you into a whole world of hurt??

Rick Remender just isn’t a very good writer and his latest, Death or Glory, Volume 1: She’s Got You, is another sloppily-constructed story.

None of the characters were interesting. Glory is the archetypical Strong Female Protagonist, which isn’t compelling, and her quest is too virtuous - gotta save mah dying pee-paw! Oh, please. Generic, too-easy motivation. The hitman with the liquid nitrogen smacked of Cormac McCarthy’s Anton Chigurh, another psycho with an unusual method of execution, and he was pointless anyway. Speaking of pointless, Glory acquires a sidekick who doesn’t do anything besides slow her down for no reason.

I don’t buy her ex’s love for her - he’s this one-dimensional villain who’s there as a plot contrivance more than anything - and there’s a couple of Amish-looking girls included for no other reason than they looked different?

The lack of imagination and story conveniences pile up. When she needs a car, an unattended one - who also just happens to be owned by a dickhead - shows up. You know the bad guy’s a bad guy because he’s cutting people up to sell for food. And look, how agreeable to be ripping off someone who just happens to be trafficking in organs when you’re in the market for an organ! And then the corny ending with the truckers - bleurgh!

Bengal’s art is nice - I’m glad he’s sticking to the visual side of comics as he’s an even worse writer than Remender! - and there’s a lot of flashy car chases (though they’re surprisingly unexciting to read for all that).

But that’s all Death or Glory is: superficially slick-looking with a very shallow, one-note and overly simplistic story that never grabbed me. Another Rick Remender turkey!

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