Written by: Jason Aaron
Art by: Ron Garney
Publisher: Marvel Comics / ICON
Men of Wrath continues this month in a typically brutal and bloody fashion. If you liked the first issue of this series, then you will probably love this new issue. This comic is about a family in Alabama who seem to pass down violence from one generation to the next. Our titular character is a man named Ira Rath, a character who has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. If you read the first issue of this series, then you probably know this all too well.
Aaron stated in his introduction to the first issue that one of his primary influences is Cormac McCarthy. The brutal violence is present certainly, as are myriad southern motifs, but the characters in this comic are falling a little flat so far for me. This is only issue 2, but the motivations and folks who have been front and center so far have been ruthless, mean, and one-dimensional. Perhaps because I read this series immediately after reviewing Aaron’s stellar series Southern Bastards I was expecting more. Ira’s son, Ruben, might be able to add some more emotion and gravitas to the proceedings, unfortunately so far he is a hapless would-be convenience store robber with a pregnant girlfriend at home. Think Raising Arizona but with none of the comedy and add a murderous father in there for good measure.
This issue has not one, but two graphic scenes of animal brutality as well. After last issue’s killing of a baby, and now the animal stuff, it just seems too easy for me. Blood and guts do not necessarily equal excitement, and in my opinion it’s just too gratuitous here. Not only that, but right when we almost start to care for Ruben, he abandons a moment that might have made him a character to root for and instead he becomes another louse in a long line of no-good Wraths. This might be interesting as a study of your own family tree, but as a comic book it just doesn’t do much for this reviewer.
I have loved most of Aaron’s work in the past, including his other collaborations with Garney (Ultimate Captain America, Wolverine, Thor) and I am willing to give Men of Wrath a couple more issues to find its voice. The violence and gore is to be expected, and there is certainly an audience for it, but the story surrounding it needs to be more developed. The Raths come from a long line of killers and degenerates within the South—but why do we care? Either a murdering father will go to any lengths to save his son or that same coward of a son will hurt/kill his father in order to save a girlfriend and mother of his unwanted child. Where else can the story go? I trust Aaron enough to think that the story must have more depth than this, but as it stands after issue 2, we haven’t been treated to anything beyond the surface level tensions yet.
