Wanted
by J.G. Jones, Mark Millar
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Book Reviews of Wanted
Book Review: Don't Get It
Summary: 1 Stars
First of all, after reading I developed such a hatred for this book I couldn't forget it, which of course makes that aspect even worse. It was in the back of my mind until I saw a trailer for the screen adaption (which looks different enough to be appealing--more about the greater good without super villains or heros). After reading some of the other reviews and after reading the story, everything sits in contradiction.
The super villain angle would actually be an interesting look into an old genre, but really what we have here is some black and white characters being evil for evil's sake. Wesley, the protagonist (or whatever he is) has no development past being a murdering rapist, and this comic pretends to be about living against the norm. Or maybe just having the power to deal with your problems with humanity in a logical way because of money. I really don't see the connection between freeing yourself and becoming evil (and not even developed evil), especially when freedom involves enslaving other people to your whims with the justification of the "sheep" philosophy (see Animal Farm or Pink Floyd). It really didn't say anything about super villains. I can think of many works that deal with the "bad guy" and their motivations, which is what needs to be explored in such a piece. Read Lucifer if you want to see the complexities of evil.
I don't really know why I completed this book. I guess I thought with my past with literature the main characters aren't supposed to stay flat from the catalyst to the climax. I didn't expect anyone to change sides, but maybe some sort of message. Something. I thought maybe I wasn't reading something endorsing super villains or murdering your best friend or people in general for that matter. The end just felt like a joke. It felt like I read something by a man who blames his own repression on the world and the people around him therefore he's going to shoot up the office and call it freedom.
I saw some titles like Watchmen and Preacher, which really makes me frown because those books are riddled with characters beyond complexity and depth where this one throws in fan service and one dimensional characters. I just don't get it.
Book Review: Adolescent Wish Fulfillment
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm going to get a lot of no help votes here but I've got to say I don't get it. This book is just o.k. as stories go. It's a semi-original idea, although I like the secret society aspects of Planetary better and I'm starting to get bored with multiverses. The execution is just too mean spirited for my tastes. I can see how someone who enjoys Eminem's music might appreciate the black humor, but I'm not in that group. I'm not too familiar with Mark Millar's work but it seems as if he was listening to a lot of Eminem and his contemporaries while writing this book.
I think my biggest problem with it is the lack of a sympathetic character. The idea that freedom for someone who gets dumped on all his life is to pick up a gun and go on a killing spree is an immature notion at best. I'm not opposed to over the top violence but I do believe the violence here, with no moral center, is just senseless. It may just be a generational thing I suppose. Why would you care about an amoral killer? I just didn't feel I had anything invested in Wesley's story. Why should I care if he gets his ten million dollars? Being a super villain in a world without opposition, couldn't he just go get his own ten million dollars somewhere else?
Like an Eminem album there is a lot of anti-PC language. It's not necessarily used in an inflammatory manner but is more in staying with the ugly personalities of the characters. It should be expected in this adult themed book. There is a lot of dark humor, some worked for me some didn't. The final two page rant was interesting and you have to hand it to Millar and Top Cow for publishing a two page insult aimed at the people who spent their hard earned money on the book. That could go either way. I will give Mark Millar this though, if I hadn't borrowed my brother's book, I would have to agree with the last page, that's what I would have felt like if I had paid for Wanted.
In the end I guess it comes down to personal tastes. I love Fight Club, the book and the movie and for some reason I don't see the similarities. At the end of Wanted, I just didn't care.
Book Review: Think of this as the anti-Watchmen
Summary: 5 Stars
Wanted shows us exactly what a villain should be: totally evil! The story begins with the death of Super-villain "Killer", who in his will left his massive ill-begotten fortune and place in "The Fraternity", a secret society of villains who in 1986 killed off or defeated all the world's superheroes, to his son, Wesley. Wesley is, for lack of a better word, a smuck. He has a dead end job, a girl friend that sleeps with his best friend, harassment as he even walks down the street, and is a pathetic hypochondriac. When a woman named Fox comes to deliver the news of his father's death and the role Wesley is to play, his life changes for the better (actually, much, much worse). In the weeks after, Wesley descends into a world of violence, money, and murder.
The cast of characters are so well written it's scary, however, in my opinion; the dialogue alone is worth the price of this book. For example: in one scene, the main antagonist shoots a mother and father leaving there kid alive, his remark as to why he didn't shoot the kid also: "maybe when he grows up he will have spent his whole life training to avenge there death, and give an old man something interesting to deal with". The underlying tongue-in-cheek humor directed towards just about every superhero comic and movie is so right on. If you love the media, but agree that, yes, it is comics, and can be out-right corny, you will totally appreciate this book.
This book is certainly not for the squeamish, or minors, or the collective of comic-fan who hold the mindset of comics being too gritty and violent in recent times. To those people, I say, get over yourselves. The world portrayed in this comic is far more believable then the "(insert hero name here) will save the day" universe, this time, no one is going to come and save us. If super-villains did exist, this is the closest I've seen to how they might actually be: decadent, hedonistic, sadistic, and at times just like anyone else. You revel in there victories and just appreciate just how bad they are, and they are so bad!.
Book Review: Dark and fantastic
Summary: 5 Stars
What if superheroes really existed? What if supervillains really did too? What if the supervillains all teamed up and killed off the superheroes, and then used their advanced technology to make everyone in the world believe that heroes and villains are a thing of fantasy, as well as the kind of technology it would take to wipe your brain of its memories? What if all crime in the entire world, all governments-everything, was controlled by these supervillains and you didn't know? What if you suddenly were told that you got to be one of them as well?
These questions essentially make up the premise of "Wanted." Wesley Gibson, your average underappreciated, depression riddled cubicle rat with a cheating girlfriend, has a bomb dropped on his life when he learns that his deadbeat father was one of the greatest supervillains of all time, and one of the "fraternity" a group of villains who essentially control the world. Did I mention his father's supervillainry led to him accumulating a fortune, and that he left it all to his illegitimate son? Oh wait, but there's a catch. In order for Wesley to inherit his father's wealth, he must first take up his father's old costume, his weapons, and his identity, and prove that he's worthy of it all. Everything is not well in the world of supervillains though. Wesley is thrust into their realm at a time of great unrest. Things are moving, but where are they moving, and who is behind it?
If you're looking for a dark story with a cynical, satirical edge, this is the place to go. Millar grounds the story in ours, allowing his average American character to go about criticizing what he sees as a boring, monotonous world where we can expect to be pushed around, spit on, and degraded by everyone around us. Besides the cynicism, though, is a great sort of right-of-passage story with a twist...its about a villain, not a hero. So how does the son of a villain go about proving that he's worthy of his father's fortune? If you want to know, read this book. You won't be disappointed.
Book Review: No More Heroes
Summary: 5 Stars
The super-hero comic is something I normally stay away from. Maybe I just got bored with all the spandex, good intentions and the fact that you almost always knew the good guys were going to win. But a comic about super-villains? Now that I'll give a chance.
Mark Millar's Wanted is the story of 24 year old Wesley Gibson. He's an average, under-achieving, timid loser. He goes about his life getting picked on by his boss, spit on by his neighbors and cheated on by his girlfriend (with his best friend no less).
But everything changes when he finds out he's the son of one of the world's most feared assassins and super-villains "The Killer." And if that's not enough The Killer's been killed and Wesley stands to inherit everything - the name, the millions and his father's place in the world-wide criminal fraternity - if he can fill the shoes.
Only Wesley doesn't have to contend with super-heroes in the world that Millar has created. Oh no. They've all been killed. In 1986 the bad guys from around the world all teamed up to annihilate every last super-hero in a war that climaxed above Manhattan. Only their deaths weren't enough. They wiped the very memories of those super-heroes from the face of the planet, obliterating all traces of their existence.
The detailed drawings by J.G. Jones are exquisite and highly detailed, expertly illustrating an entire world and the colors of Paul Mounts vividly bring this gritty world to life.
The only real complaint I have about this comic is that it was too short. By the time everything was done and concluded I didn't want to put the book down. I'm not saying it felt unfinished, in fact it was very well crafted. Besides, there's something to be said for a writer that can tell a compelling story and not lose track of the plot for 100 pages (or a few TPB's for that matter).
Be warned however, this series is graphic and explicit. It is certainly not intended for younger readers.