Matt Fraction: The Order
Jan. 7th, 2009 07:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakI read The Order first issue by issue – thank you, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
likeadeuce! – but have now aquired the trade collections. Which you, gentle reader, should as well, especially since there are only two of them, and you can afford them; they tell a story with beginning and end, which manages to tie into the bigger Marvelverse but still stands on its own and is understandable if you haven’t read anything else. And it’s a treatise on the makings and breakings of superheroes written with irony and snark but never cynicism, endearing characters, and a great sence of place, the place being Los Angeles.
If you are familiar with at least some other Marvel titles, on the other hand, you’re in for a treat as well. The Order takes place in the aftermath of Civil War, when Tony Stark/Iron Man was busy building up superhero teams in every state. What California gets, rather appropriately, is a team of people who were/are celebrities on their own before signing up for a one-year-superpower program, and yes, there’s the teenage pop singer as well as the former baseball player, not to mention the team’s leader, who isRobert Downey Junior Henry Hellrung, the actor who used to play Iron Man on tv and pal around with the genuine article back in the day (with the strong implication that they didn’t just share drinks and girls), before hitting rock bottom as an alcoholic and becoming a spokesperson for AA. (He’s also Tony’s sponsor there.) And it wouldn’t be Los Angeles without a ruthless, clever and lethally sarcastic lawyer, Kate Kildare, responsible fore the team’s PR and having her hands full from the get-go as they have to fire a lot of them basically the day after it was launched.
This has all the makings of a cheap joke or parody, and the fact it never becomes one is due to Matt Fraction’s writing skills. He has fun with the whole situation, but never at the expense of his characters’ believability; moreover, each of the characters actually does want to be a hero – and not in the celebrity sense - , for her or his own reasons, and as we find out about their backgrounds and see them interact, it’s impossible not to root for them to make it. Moreover, while the Order combats its share of absurd Marvelverse monsters, they also get confronted with pure human viciousness (Fraction introduces a villain here he’ll later use in Invincible Iron Man, Ezekiel Stane, son of Obadiah but more to the point a younger and completely amoral version of Tony Stark), and the danger the characters are in always feels real. So does the tragedy when some members die.
It says something about The Order that when Marvel notables do make appearances, these can rank from one panel in-jokes, short and to the point (Ares), to genuine showdowns (Namor). (The Henry versus Namor story relies on Namor being dismissive of Henry Hellrung as a superhero wannabe, and offers all the fun such “heavyweight versus newbie underdog regarded as a joke” scenarios can bring.) Mind you, one of the main characters, Pepper Potts (for Iron Man movie fans not familiar with other comics: yes, the very same), who coordinates all things Order (which goes with the codename Hera), and of course Tony Stark as a supporting character are Marvelverse stalwarts, but Fraction treats them and his original characters on an equal basis, and as a result the narrative flows instead of feeling like something waiting for the next famous character to appear. The incredibly moving climax depends on an oc, Mullholland “Holly”, and the readers caring for her, and it works.
Lastly: these two volumes both pass the Bechdel test (not only do we have as many female characters as male ones, but they do talk to each other about non-romantic matters, and if they discuss men, they’re likely to be the villain/problem of the hour); and between Holly being gay, Becky and Milo having sex that involves shapeshifting and temporary becoming a hermaphrodite, and the Henry/Tony relationship, this is a story handling the sexuality of its characters in a varied and matter-of-fact way. And one more observation about style:
As a film buff, I enjoyed the interviews as framing devices for all chapters; it very much reminded me of Billy Wilder films, felt very appropriate to the Los Angeles setting, and showcased the different voices of all main characters beautifully.
likeadeuce! – but have now aquired the trade collections. Which you, gentle reader, should as well, especially since there are only two of them, and you can afford them; they tell a story with beginning and end, which manages to tie into the bigger Marvelverse but still stands on its own and is understandable if you haven’t read anything else. And it’s a treatise on the makings and breakings of superheroes written with irony and snark but never cynicism, endearing characters, and a great sence of place, the place being Los Angeles. If you are familiar with at least some other Marvel titles, on the other hand, you’re in for a treat as well. The Order takes place in the aftermath of Civil War, when Tony Stark/Iron Man was busy building up superhero teams in every state. What California gets, rather appropriately, is a team of people who were/are celebrities on their own before signing up for a one-year-superpower program, and yes, there’s the teenage pop singer as well as the former baseball player, not to mention the team’s leader, who is
This has all the makings of a cheap joke or parody, and the fact it never becomes one is due to Matt Fraction’s writing skills. He has fun with the whole situation, but never at the expense of his characters’ believability; moreover, each of the characters actually does want to be a hero – and not in the celebrity sense - , for her or his own reasons, and as we find out about their backgrounds and see them interact, it’s impossible not to root for them to make it. Moreover, while the Order combats its share of absurd Marvelverse monsters, they also get confronted with pure human viciousness (Fraction introduces a villain here he’ll later use in Invincible Iron Man, Ezekiel Stane, son of Obadiah but more to the point a younger and completely amoral version of Tony Stark), and the danger the characters are in always feels real. So does the tragedy when some members die.
It says something about The Order that when Marvel notables do make appearances, these can rank from one panel in-jokes, short and to the point (Ares), to genuine showdowns (Namor). (The Henry versus Namor story relies on Namor being dismissive of Henry Hellrung as a superhero wannabe, and offers all the fun such “heavyweight versus newbie underdog regarded as a joke” scenarios can bring.) Mind you, one of the main characters, Pepper Potts (for Iron Man movie fans not familiar with other comics: yes, the very same), who coordinates all things Order (which goes with the codename Hera), and of course Tony Stark as a supporting character are Marvelverse stalwarts, but Fraction treats them and his original characters on an equal basis, and as a result the narrative flows instead of feeling like something waiting for the next famous character to appear. The incredibly moving climax depends on an oc, Mullholland “Holly”, and the readers caring for her, and it works.
Lastly: these two volumes both pass the Bechdel test (not only do we have as many female characters as male ones, but they do talk to each other about non-romantic matters, and if they discuss men, they’re likely to be the villain/problem of the hour); and between Holly being gay, Becky and Milo having sex that involves shapeshifting and temporary becoming a hermaphrodite, and the Henry/Tony relationship, this is a story handling the sexuality of its characters in a varied and matter-of-fact way. And one more observation about style:
As a film buff, I enjoyed the interviews as framing devices for all chapters; it very much reminded me of Billy Wilder films, felt very appropriate to the Los Angeles setting, and showcased the different voices of all main characters beautifully.
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Date: 2009-01-09 12:00 am (UTC)I think Fraction actually mentioned 'Lost' as an inspiration for the framing device in each issue -- not so much that he's a big 'Lost' fan (I don't know if he is or not) but that he thought it was an interesting structure to use in a comic. It's certainly a good way to develop characters while using a large ensemble in the main plot. It also adds a lot of depth on re-reading, which you probably discovered. There are things like James being the one not to go out drinking in the first issue -- which seems to code him as a goodie- goodie, but later on you realize it could be a reaction to being injured by a drunk driver. (And which is one of the things that makes me really really want genfic about Henry & James).
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Date: 2009-01-09 06:51 pm (UTC)Los Angeles: you know, it's curious because the first time I went there, I thought "what an ugly city" (ocean view aside). But I kept coming back, and made friends, and fell in love with bits and pieces, and since that is what Los Angeles is - fragments, lots of fragments from films and tv shows and immigrants from several centuries and some amazing present day peoploe - I came to love the city itself. As evidenced here (http://selenak.livejournal.com/tag/los+angeles).
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Date: 2009-01-10 12:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-10 07:39 pm (UTC)However: I just might be bitten by a plot bunny in which Christine Everhart from the movieverse interviews Henry. I'm valiantly fighting it off, though.
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Date: 2009-01-10 08:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-10 09:05 pm (UTC)Though maybe I could pull off a straight Q & A, i.e. the recording. With mysterious gaps as Henry occasionally uses his power. (BTW, loved that Tony gave him a variation of Thor's. Is this another thing Thor is pissed off about, I wonder?)
On another note: do you happen to know where the "Tony helps Carol Danvers quit drinking and becomes her sponsor" tale might be found? Avengers? Solo title?
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Date: 2009-01-11 05:12 am (UTC)