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Dexter: Gunshark Vacation
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14th
December 04 |
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Cover by Greg Staples |
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Sinister Dexter:
Gunshark Vacation
By Dan
Abnett, David Millgate, Charles Gillespie, Simon Davis, Henry Flint
, Anthony Williams
Buy
this book from Amazon.co.uk
What to Expect:
The introduction of Downlode’s gunsharks, Ramon Sinister and Finnegan
Dexter, the best hitmen that money can buy…
Review by Gavin
Hanly
Sinister Dexter
have, in a somewhat surprising turn of events, become one of the longest running
series in 2000AD. Surprising because the gunsharks don’t appear to have
built up the fanbase that characters such as Slaine and, more recently, Nikolai
Dante have. While those characters, and other fan-favourites such as Rogue Trooper,
have built up a large following, Sinister Dexter continues to divide the 2000AD
readership down the middle – at least according to the vocal, and some would
say very influential, online contingent. Yet the longevity of the series does
lend itself to these trade reprints while the simple underlying premise behind
the lead characters makes for an easy introduction to American readers. Abnett’s
American work on titles such as Superman and Legion also makes him easier to introduce
to the US market.
This is the first in a promised series reprinting the adventures
right from the beginning, so there’s a chance to take another look at how
everything started, and reassess the series’ impact. Abnett himself has
said that Sinister Dexter started off as an almost throwaway idea, based on the
John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson characters from Pulp fiction. Strip mining
Hollywood for ideas is not an uncommon genesis for a series in 2000AD, witness
the “Crouching Tiger” inspired “Tiger Sun, Dragon Moon”
due soon from Steve Parkhouse. Indeed the very high conceptness of the premise
is an immediate attention grabber, and you can see why Rebellion are pushing this
property above harder sells like Strontium Dog.
So how do things
start? Approaching the art first, this volume unfortunately illustrates the muddy
art style that was plaguing 2000AD when the gunsharks made their first appearance.
With painted art being the norm in the comic, and most of it being of the “moody
painted art” style, there was a certain lack of draughtsmanship from many
artists. I have to admit to never being a David Millgate fan, the artist who first
designed Sinister Dexter, finding his work an uneasy mix of cartoon and a more
graphic style. His work does however look somewhat better when painted, but this
may support artists’ claims that during that period in 2000AD’s history,
the airbrush could occasionally be used to hide an artist’s flaws. Charles
Gillespie’s work also exhibits the same drawbacks as Millgate’s, with
the dark muddy art occasionally making it hard to work out what’s going
on in many panels.
But almost half
way through the book, we witness the appearance of Simon Davis. It is with his
introduction that the series really begins to show promise. Indeed he can be given
a great deal of credit for ensuring the series has lasted this long. The sharp
improvement in the quality of art is extraordinary. Davis brings real character
to the strip, highlighting the humourous elements through some extraordinary characterisation
with painted art that isn’t afraid to leave the odd white or light coloured
background to adequately frame the characters. There is the odd moment of “and…why
is Sinister blue again…?” while his action scenes can occasionally
be a mite confusing, but overall he brings a level of class to the strip that
raises the episodes where he contributes from OK to Very Good Indeed.
As for the writing?
The first episodes are entertaining, but it does take the main characters some
time to find their feet. The characterisation of Dexter in the first few tales
is particularly painful, while the bad guys are somewhat uninspiring. However,
once Davis is on art chores, Abnett seems to find his mojo. The supporting characters
are more fleshed out, and the longer tales suit the style of the strip no end.
Indeed, even to this day, it’s always been these longer tales that have
worked in the strip’s favour, emphasised by the last 8 part strip “Gunshark
Vacation”. This is where the backstory has developed enough to make the
world of the characters a little more acceptable and natural, as well as allowing
for more dramatic tension.
As mentioned above,
it is also useful to revisit some of the characters that have been referred to
in recent episodes. I had completely forgotten who Holy Moses was and this book
served as a useful re-introduction, as the character looks to be making a comeback
of sorts soon. Having said that – he wasn’t a particularly fascinating
character, so let’s hope that Abnett does something more interesting with
him next time.
Finally, onto some comments about the look and feel of the book.
The second book in the 2000AD/DC deal, it’s the first to reprint work that
originally appeared in the weekly as opposed to previously being printed by DC.
The presentation is generally fine, with the size of the book being larger than
I was expecting and there’s no stretching on display here. There are some
reservations though. The book could certainly have done with some brightening
in the earlier episodes, and the quality of these earlier episodes is disappointing.
The lack of an
introduction is also a confusing omission. Given that this series of books is
being released with the intention of bringing 2000AD characters to a larger audience,
it seems surprising that they couldn’t get Abnett to write an introduction
to the book. Indeed, with his previous work on the Dredd vs Death making of, Jamie
Boardman, the collection editor could easily have supplied something himself.
This would have been far preferable to the black one page story separators which
mainly repeat information that is contained in the strips themselves. Some of
the introductions for the old Titan Collections were wonderful (such as Moore’s
intros to Halo Jones) and it would have been good to see more of that here.
But overall, the collections represent good value for money.
Over 120 pages of strips for £12.99 is a massive improvement on earlier
trades, and it’s gratifying to finally see larger collections appearing
from Rebellion.
So if you fancy
a trip back to see how the gunsharks started out, this serves as a useful primer.
If you are one of those hard to find die-hard fans then, by all means, buy this.
But is it enough for revisionist writers to suddenly acclaim the series as a work
of genius? Frankly no. It’s always been fairly entertaining, but of the
throwaway type. If you have grown tired of the duo, then this retro hit won’t
change your mind. It’ll still divide the readership down the middle.
Buy
this book from Amazon.co.uk |
