One man begins a journey that will explore the life of his murdered son, as well as reveal the dark truths about his own violent past. Read on for our review of “Crude” #1, which does contain spoilers.
& Lee Loughridge
Written by Steve Orlando
Illustrated by Garry Brown
Colored by Lee Loughridge
Lettered by Thomas MauerKillers once feared Piotr Petrovich. Now, they’ve sent his son home to him – in a body bag. Haunted by his failures, Piotr journeys across Russia to learn what type of man his son really was, while hunting the bastards who killed him. And once Piotr finds them, they will learn to fear him once more… GLAAD Media Award-nominated writer STEVE ORLANDO (VIRGIL, Midnighter) and artist GARRY BROWN (BLACK ROAD) deliver an emotional, bone-shattering account of murder, masculinity, and mayhem.
It’s appropriate that “Crude” is named after the oil that is mined and refined in the background of this story. Not only is it a word that symbolizes the direct, inelegant nature of violence, but its allusion to the thick, black and extremely flammable liquid is a reflection of the world we’re diving into. It’s a reflection too of the journey Piotr is taking as he sinks deeper into the sins of his own past in order to uncover more about just who his estranged son really was.
The prominent word there is “was,” due to the fact that Piotr’s son, Kiril, has been murdered, assassinated with a bullet in the brain, and Piotr blames himself. His life as an “insurance salesman” was a front for his real job as a sadistic enforcer for an as yet unnamed General. This issue jumps from one time period to the next, reveling in its ability to see things that are beyond the characters, giving us insights into the true lives of Piotr and Kiril that the individuals themselves struggle their whole lives to see.
Writer Steve Orlando stresses in the back of this book numerous times that he’s not angry, and you can forgive him this confession, for “Crude” #1 begins a dark, brooding tale of resentment and revenge. It’s a book about a father and son that know nothing about each other, harboring secrets about themselves so strongly, yet blaming the other for not knowing them. Piotr sees the two aspects of his life – father and killer – as two separate things, yet we see them bleed into one another multiple times before finally, fatally, they collide in a way that costs the life of his son.
Despite the violent scene in this issue (we’re assured by Orlando that there is more to come), “Crude” #1 is a quiet, contemplative issue. There are outbursts of emotion, mostly from Kiril and his mother Valentina, but the stoic nature of Piotr permeates through the narrative; we follow his perspective for the most part, so it makes sense that he would influence the plot in this way. Similarly, however, his emotions are always boiling just below the surface, and while this isn’t explicit in the narrative, artist Garry Brown brings this to the forefront in numerous ways.
The glimpse into the violent side of Piotr’s life is seen early on in the issue, as early as page two, and that scene lingers in your mind as you move forward through the narrative. Not only that, but Brown returns to some of the particularly violent imagery of that scene multiple times to illustrate just how much it impacts upon Piotr’s psyche. Two almost identical panels of Piotr stood in his kitchen, hot coffee in hand, are separated by a graphic flashback to that memory, and when we return for that third panel Piotr is still stood there, but the world around him is dark. Either he’s been stood there a long time or, more likely, his alternate life is filling his world with darkness, like drowning in oil.
The bleak Russian backdrop is reflected in Lee Loughridge’s colder palette, the only warmth coming from the walls of their family kitchen, and even that is abandoned for the self-imposed blackness that surrounds Piotr when his emotions overwhelm reality. There’s a full-page shot of a church in Vladimir – faithful to the architecture of the area – that serves as the backdrop for the meeting place of Piotr and Kiril. We’re told by Piotr that it’s been a while since they met, and he makes it clear he has a contempt for this place, but the imposing nature of the scene implies its importance, if not to Piotr then to Kiril. Brown and Loughridge bring it to life in a way that emphasizes its presence and therefore stress a certain aspect of Kiril’s personality that is completely lost on his father.
Continued belowLater in “Crude” #1, we see Piotr confronted by his memories as he looks in the mirror. He sees his son’s face, then his son’s body, and finally we see Kiril’s cold, dead eyes open and stare impossibly as his father. Here, Brown perfectly captures just how haunted Piotr is, but that feeling is present throughout the book. The portrayal of Piotr is always of a tired, haggard man, one burdened by secrets and by the decisions he’s chosen, and that emotion illustrated so well by Brown and Loughridge is what’s truly at the heart of this book.
By the end of “Crude” #1, Piotr has journeyed to Blackstone, the savage offshore refinery where Kiril spent the last year of his life. Piotr’s journey begins here, as he seeks the answers to his son’s death in the questions he will ask about his life. It’s clear by the final shot of Piotr looking directly at the reader that this is a man no longer scared to confront his past, unafraid to explore the darkness in order to get the answers he seeks. “Crude” is a book about facing the failings of your life, the decisions you have made, and how that affects the world and people around you. There’s a catharsis to come, one imagines, in the violent retribution Piotr will be inflicting, and like all good revenge stories, it’s only done by exposing the oily black reflections of your own soul.
Final Verdict: 8.9 – A dark, bleak beginning, but one filled with real depth and emotion.
