Most of you are probably at least vaguely familiar with the concept of Resurrection Man. After all, its 2nd volume is currently a cancelled, soon-to-be-gone series in the DC Comics New 52. Have you read that series and wished that it had more to say for itself? Well, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning certainly had a lot to say with their 1st volume. More on that later. Are you reading that New 52 series and enjoying it? I can’t imagine that you wouldn’t enjoy the earlier volume even more. Don’t have any idea what I’m talking about? Read on. And perhaps I can convince you to check out what I think is one of DC Comics’ most unheralded and utterly rewarding series from the 90’s.
The basic premise of Resurrection Man is a simple one: Mitch Shelley wakes up one day and can’t remember a whole lot of anything. So he does what any down-on-his-luck man without a past would do – he goes out and looks for answers. As he does this, he slowly regains memories triggered by objects, places, and the people he encounters. Over the course of 27 issues, he will find out everything about his past and the truth is stranger than he ever could have known. Oh, I forgot the most important part! He also possesses the ability to continually resurrect from the dead, and the control of a single superhuman ability that changes every time he comes back to life. It’s a formula that has endless possibilities. Possibilities that Abnett and Lanning build a robust and entertaining mythology around.
I find the 27 issues are pretty easily divided into 3 pseudo-arcs. Abnett and Lanning certainly envisioned this as one story that flows from beginning to end, and it does so in sprawling fashion. But it also tackles some themes with subtext and humor, and the focus of these themes change over the course of these “arcs.”
In the first several issues, Mitch assumes the role of the “wandering stranger” who drifts into town at the beginning of a story, solves a problem or performs a good deed, and then goes on his way again. This part of the series follows a Quantum Leap formula where every issue has a problem that can be solved using one of Mitch’s new powers. Butch Guice (Brubaker’s “Captain America” & “Winter Soldier” artist) is the primary artist, and he uses lots of shadowing to lend a creepy vibe to the proceedings. The inks are filled in with plenty of blacks, greys, and browns that make for a seedy environment wherever Mitch goes. These issues also reminded me of the television show Twin Peaks – there is repetition in certain visions and words in the script that lay the groundwork for the series’ mysteries. There are also plenty of off-beat characters that are introduced, like the bizarre and fast-talking Hooker (Mitch’s arch-enemy) and the Body Doubles, a pair of sexy guns for hire.
While Mitch is out do-gooding, he rubs elbows with some of the most popular characters in the DCU. These cameos were no doubt put in the series to garner readership and give the book the best chance to succeed. And truth be told, it is a lot of fun to see him run up against Batman in Gotham City, or Garth Ennis’ Hitman. But most of the time this series reminded me more of a 90’s Vertigo book. Without ever going over the top, some scenes felt a little more mature than the standard DC fare was back then. The circumstances of the story were also very much suited for the “supernatural” persons of the Vertigo world, rather than the “superheroics” of the DC Universe proper. And I believe that Abnett and Lanning would explore this juxtaposition in what I feel is the series 2nd “arc.”
It’s here that Mitch is given an actual superhero “costume” and something of a membership with the JLA, themselves. Whether this was mandated by editorial or not, Abnett and Lanning use it as an opportunity to comment quite cleverly about the fact that sometimes there are characters who are not cut out for wearing tights and fighting intergalactic threats. I read it as if Mitch himself was resisting any editorial mandates that tried to make him a bigger part of the mainstream superhero universe.
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In the final “third” of Resurrection Man’s first volume, we are treated to the payoff of every storyline and a compromise as to what type of hero Mitch Shelley really is. Here, the series takes a turn from seedy, street-level situations and cape-and-cowl superheroics, to unbridled science fiction. Best of all, Abnett and Lanning make the best of that theoretical compromise I mentioned earlier by grouping him with a bunch of B & C-list superheroes (including Animal Man, himself!) and pitting him against the most fitting foe for a man who can never truly die: Vandal Savage. Vandal Savage’s presence in this book is what finally tips it into the realm of greatness, as the dialogue becomes rich and dramatic and the ruminations on immortality and power become grander in scale.
Bonus: Resurrection Man was a key player in the ‘DC One Million’ event. I would highly recommend checking that event out for some high-concept crazy Grant Morrison goodness.
If you’re anything like me, you enjoy it when comic book creative teams have something to say about the heroes we’re reading that comes down to more than just fist fights and superpowers. Abnett & Lanning may have run out of things to say with Mitch Shelley in the New 52, but 27 issues of Resurrection Man Vol. 1 was just enough for them to say everything they wanted to say about capes and tell the story of a mystery man who discovers just what kind of hero he can be.
