Written by: Greg Rucka
Art by: Justin Greenwood & Ryan Hill
Publisher: Oni Press
Greg Rucka’s output reminds me of the amazing Joss Whedon quote from a few years ago:
Reporter: Why do you always write these strong female characters?
Whedon: Because you’re still asking me that question.
Gotham Central. Lazarus. Punisher. Batwoman. Queen & Country. And now, in its third volume, you can add Stumptown to that list, the list of amazing Greg Rucka-penned comics. Dex Parios is a PI with PTSD, a sister with a brother to take care of, and a diehard Portland Timbers fan as well. In other words, she’s complex, tough, funny, and crazy smart, like any great lead in a detective story, female or otherwise, should be.
Issue 5 does a great job of revealing more information about Dex without beating us over the head with the newfound history. I also love that while this is the third arc of the series, I didn’t realize how little I knew about Dex until this issue. That’s a mark of great character development—their personalities are so complex and engaging that you don’t even realize how much or how little has been revealed to you until you learn even more, in nuanced ways each time. If you’ve been reading Rucka’s Lazarus (and you really should be) then you know how great Rucka is at developing characters, mysteries, and perhaps most of all, world-building. In the case of Stumptown, however, Rucka is less building worlds (the story takes place in Portland, Oregon) and instead fully realizing them and breathing life into the environments—with the help of Justin Greenwood, of course.
I must admit, when I learned that Greenwood would be replacing Matthew Southworth on this latest arc of the story, I was apprehensive. While I think Greenwood is doing great work on The Fuse currently, I just wasn’t sure how he’d fare on a book that already had an established tone and look. Thankfully, my apprehension was unfounded. The book’s interiors look incredibly different from the first two arcs to now, but the transition has been smoother than I thought possible. Greenwood seems to have a knack for uncomfortable, close-up conversations and tense encounters, so between Stumptown and The Fuse, he has really found a comfortable niche for himself. This issue, in particular, shows off some of Greenwood’s skills at revealing distrust and skepticism with just the twitch of any eye or the subtle movement of a perp’s hand.
There’s not much more to say about Stumptown #5. It’s just great modern detective storytelling—male or female leads, comics, novels, or movies, I don’t really care how Rucka and Greenwood deliver it, I just know this book scratches an itch for me that few other projects can. Unless they unearth lost episodes of The Rockford Files, Stumptown will remain the best “down and out” PI story being created today, and there’s no higher praise I can heap on this series than that.
