With great art and a workable plot, it’s “Easy Rider” meets cyberpunk meets “Trainspotting” in Rick Remender’s “The Scumbag” #1. (Warning: may contain minor spoilers.)
Cover by Lewis LaRosa
& Moreno DinisioWritten by Rick Remender
Illustrated by Lewis LaRosa
Colored by Moreno Dinisio
Lettered by Rus WootonThe fate of the world rests in the hands of the worst person on it! From the writer of DEADLY CLASS! RICK REMENDER launches an all-new comedy espionage series, THE SCUMBAG—the story of Ernie Ray Clementine, a profane, illiterate, drug-addicted biker with a fifth-grade education. He’s the only thing standing between us and total Armageddon because this dummy accidentally received a power-imbuing serum, making him the world’s most powerful super spy.
Writer Rick Remender sets a Herculean task for himself in trying to convince us that Ernie Ray Clementine is the worst person in the world. There were a lot of crappy people on this planet before 2020. With a new crisis every day and way too many people who either don’t give a rat’s ass or choose to make a profit instead, the number of jackwipes, dickwads and a-holes has grown exponentially.
Yes, Ernie Ray is selfish, sexist, lowlife dirtbag, but I’m guessing he also has a “heart of gold” and will eventually “do the right thing” when the chips are down. In fact, the Confidential Character profile at the end of the book – ostensibly compiled by the Central Authority – pretty much assures us that’s how it will go. “Underneath Ernie’s bravado and notions of heroic personal freedom is an unspoken need for respect, validation and love…,” it says. “This leads Ernie to hurt and insult everyone around him.” An especially insightful analysis, considering we didn’t even get a whiff of that in the first installment.
Instead, unfortunately, we hear for the umpteenth time that Ernie Ray is profane, illiterate, blah blah blah. Turns out, the same exact words and phrases we read the solicit are cut-and-pasted right from the book. On more than one occasion. Remender would have us believe Ernie Ray comes from the great American antihero tradition, a self-destructive but lovable in the vein of Charles Bukowski and Hunter S. Thompson – both of whom are namechecked – as well Jack Kerouac, The Dude and countless others. We definitely get a scumbag, but someone who’s the worst? Nah. There’s still a hell of a long way to go. Ernie Ray ain’t even close.
Maybe it’s just a case of bad timing.
When Ernie Ray is told that he’s the only hope for stopping an imminent attack from a hidden bomb, he finishes pulling up his pants and says, “This ain’t workin’ fer me. Take it sleazy,” and walks away. Moments later, he reluctantly agrees to save the world, but only if he gets his drug-addled list of selfish demands. Honestly, in 2020, I give him points for that. Seems pretty damn certain the world could end any day, so why not get what you can before it all goes up in flames?
But hey, you didn’t buy this book for the character development, you bought it for the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. And a healthy dose of “Trainspotting” inspired bodily function humor. In the end, like so many first issues these days, we don’t learn a whole lot more than what’s in the solicit. I get the fact that publishers – and local comic book stores – don’t have the luxury of hoping readers will discover new titles that look interesting, but at the same time, debut issues increasingly seem like a glorified illustrated version of the marketing hype.
Thankfully, the artwork for “The Scumbag” #1 rocks pretty hard. Lewis LaRosa’s inks fit Ernie Ray and the subject matter perfectly, striking a great balance between gritty realism and comedic exaggeration. Some pages have a ton of panels and some fairly intricate sequences but LaRosa handles them with ease, giving us a great sense of place, while focusing on the action. The sequence beginning with the Salvation Army collection bucket through the end of the fight scene is simply brilliant. The pacing feels spot-on and, well, let’s just say LaRosa gives us a whole new definition of splash page.
Continued belowMoreno Disinio’s colors complement the illustrations beautifully. With its hazy, dingy brown-yellow-orange color palette, you can almost smell the stale, smoky, beery bar interior wafting of the page as your feet stick to the floor. And parents, no worries at all that this book glorifies hard drug use. With a sickly pale yellow background behind a sequence of four close-up panels, Ernie Ray somehow looks ruddy and unnaturally gray at the same time. A man who’s hit rock bottom, and fallen a few pegs further. He is lower than low.
Once the Formula Maxima hits and the nanotech is unleashed, Disinio’s monochromatic holographic glow contrasts beautifully with the grimy, grungy real world established earlier. It’s definitely a pretty common futuristic sci-fi look, but here it looks fresh and dynamic. The jagged, vibrating outlines give it all some great energy. You can practically hear the staticky buzzing.
Notably, Remender does have one trick up his sleeve for forthcoming issues. Each subsequent chapter will feature a different team of interior and cover artists, giving many creators a chance to visually imagine and reimagine this scuzzy, sleazy, grimy world. The first issue may not overwhelm you, but the upcoming “murderers’ row of all-star artistic talent” promises to make “The Scumbag” a wild and debauched ride.
Final Verdict: 8.1 “The Scumbag” #1 doesn’t move the story much further than what we already know, in terms of both character and plot, but the interior art is great and who doesn’t like rooting for a cranky antihero?
