A Look At Matt Fraction’s Creator Owned Comics

Note: This piece is missing Four Letter Words and 24Seven. I had never read them, and, for the life of me, cannot find them anywhere. Sorry.

Matt Fraction, comic book author extraordinaire. While he may now be known for his work on powerhouse series like Hawkeye and FF, he didn’t always sit among the likes of Brian Michael Bendis and Johnathon Hickman at the head of Marvel’s table of writers. No, his rise to fame began at Image, with his creator owned comics. These are the books that kickstarted his rise, and remain among some of his greatest works. While his last work at Image ended in 2008, he’s recently returned to the publisher, to start stellar new series as Image assaults the market with excellent new series, two of which are penned by the illustrious Matt Fraction.

Casanova (Casanova #1-14, 2006-2008)  was one of Matt Fraction’s first works for Image, with art provided by two powerhouse artists – Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon. Casanova is a story about horrible people doing horrible things and trying to redeem themselves as their world spirals out of control and burns around them. This is really where Fraction established his writing style, building a story around oddball characters that thrived on being as different as possible from every other book on the market. Casanova is about a man named Quinn Casanova, who is pulled from one dimension to another to work for both the largest criminal organization in the world, but also the world’s largest security organization. The plot meanders, twisting and turning when least expected, creating a story that even five years after it ended is a joy to read, and keeps the reader on their toes, eager to flip the page and continue on with the story. Because even though all of the characters are horrible people, they genuinely try, throughout the course of the series, to do the right thing. And in issue #13, we see what Quinn Casanova meant to every single character in this series, and how he changed their lives for the better, in a series of emotional moments that drag the reader into the depths of depression, before inspiring hope into them.

You know that The Five Fists of Science (Graphic novel w/ Steven Sanders, trade paperback, 2006) is going to be awesome before the comics even start. Matt Fraction’s trademark humor is present in the acknowledgements and title pages, and it’s great. Granted, there isn’t as much humor in this as in other Matt Fraction works, though this may be partially because he co-wrote it with Steve Sanders. That said, the duo do an excellent job of creating an animated group of characters whose adventures are equal insane, horrifying, and at times, touching. The Five Fists of Science, really, is just another excellent piece of creator owned work from Matt Fraction. It’s sort of historical fiction, but it deviates significantly from historical events about halfway through. It uses historical characters, like Mark Twain and Nikolai Tesla, as the main characters. They end up using Tesla’s automaton to battle an evil cult of weird demon worshipers that includes Thomas Edison. Reading it is an insane experience in which one must completely suspend their disbelief in order to enjoy it fully. But if you can do that, you will reap some excellent rewards, as it is an excellent comic, and one that is horribly overlooked when looking at Matt Fraction’s works.

Satellite Sam (Satellite Sam #1-4 2013-ongoing) sees Fraction stepping out of his normal comfort zone. While he’s been known to excel on books that thrive on humor, and are known for their zaniness, and, frankly, being pretty trippy and surreal. This series, with Howard Chaykin on art, is quite different from what we’ve come to expect of Matt Fraction’s work. It’s the most grounded Matt Fraction written comic that I’ve ever read, and it shows his range as a writer. Also unlike his other books, this is more of a slow burn, story-centric story, and it thrives in its difference. For those who don’t know, Satellite Sam is a series that takes place in the 1950’s, and focuses on the television industry of the era. It’s a stellar period piece, but even those who lack interest in this period will find something to like. Be it the murder mystery aspect, the on-set drama, or simply being immersed in the world this comic has built, every part of this book offers something different, that varies from what Fraction has done in the past.

The most recent of Matt Fraction’s series of Image books, Sex Criminals (Sex Criminals #1-3, 2013-ongoing), is also one of the best comics to come out of Image’s stellar series of new number 1’s. While the title (and, quite frankly, the covers) may suggest a ton of gratuitous sex, they are quite misleading. Sure, there is sex in this comic (It’s an Image book, what did you expect?), but instead of being the main focus of the book, it’s more a plot device to allow the story to occur. The protagonists, John and Suzie, have the power to stop time whenever they have an orgasm, and that certainly leads to some interesting events. Unlike Satellite Sam, Sex Criminals is very much Matt Fraction’s standard work, a strong, character focused story that thrives on surrealism and outrageous humor, and that’s certainly not a bad thing. The humor here is generally funny, but that’s just the surface level of this book. Dig deeper, and you’ll find not only a love story, but some strong social commentary on how we view sex in society. Also, it’s a heist story that sees the heroes go up against the sex police in “The Cumworld” (or “The Quiet”, if you’re more sophisticated, like Suzie). Come for the sex jokes (I’m really sorry about that pun, it was completely unintentional), but stay for the love story. And the heist part. And the time travel element. And… oh, you know what? Just go buy this book.