There are a lot of comics out there, but some just stand out head and shoulders above the pack. With “Don’t Miss This” we want to spotlight those series we think need to be on your pull list. This week, we look at “The Wild Storm: Michael Cray,” a title from the recent WildStorm imprint headed up by Warren Ellis. It’s Michael Cray Kills the DC Universe, but also more.
Who Is This By?
“Michael Cray” is written by Bryan Edward Hill, based on a story by Warren Ellis. The art work is handled by penciller N. Steven Harris, inker Dexter Vines, and colorist Steve Buccellato. Letters are handled by Simon Bowland.
What’s It All About?
Spinning out of “The Wild Storm,” “The Wild Storm: Michael Cray” follows the title character as he finds a new job with Executive Protection Services and goes on a world tour taking out the targets they give him. Those targets, dark and twisted version of heroes and villains from the DC Universe. At the same time, Michael Cray struggles with the parasitic entity living inside his head and giving him supernatural abilities.
What Makes It So Great?
It transcends the baser tendencies stories like this tend to be associated with. The emotional conceit and through line to “Michael Cray” echoes an overquoted line from Nietzsche “whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.” This, when mixed with the general Michael Cray Kills the DC Universe structure creates the immediate impression of this being hollow violence porn. And it is violent, but that violence also carries consequences and translates on to the title character.
As his past work on “Postal” have shown, Bryan Edward Hill can take pulpy ideas and use them to tell affecting character stories. Michael Cray goes on a DC Elseworld Tour taking out various monstrous incarnations of heroes and villains, but Hill uses the metaphor of monster to explore the ethical space Cray tries to create, maintain, and navigate along the way. Cray has no issue taking on an Oliver Queen who has turned “The Most Dangerous Game” into fetish ritual, but feels wrong when forced to confront a mentally ill Barry Allen. In the world Michael Cray travels in, everyone is a monster, including himself. So what are the meaningful degrees of separation that make his deathblow required? As he struggles with these questions, Cray also deals with the effects of the parasitic organism inside his head and the sinking feeling that his new masters at Executive Protection Services maybe just as monstrous as the ones at International Operations.
One of the real joys of “The Wild Storm” is the methodical mundanity of Jon Davis-Hunt brings to his art. N. Steven Harris takes the same basic visual language established by Davis-Hunt, and twists it to fit the needs of “Michael Cray.” This makes for a book that feels visually its own thing, Harris’ designs are more cartooned in their representation and Buccellato’s pallet is simpler and brighter, but the paneling and pacing are informed by “Wild Storm.” This makes for some excellent action sequences as Cray takes on versions of The Flash, Green Arrow, and Aquaman. It also opens up for more expressive studies in facial designs, the more cartooned style of Harris and generally larger panel size make for some interesting moments of contrast and sequencing as a variety of feelings come across a characters face. The emphasis on Cray’s emotional vulnerability and Harris’ ability to express is the secret key to “Cray” be coming more than hollow violence.
How Can You Read It?
“The Wild Storm: Michael Cray” #7 is out this week. The first trade paperback collecting issues #1-6 is out July 24, 2018
