In that respect, these two stories read together enhance each other by providing us a depiction of Ethan as a constant force of nature, at peace with the karmic cycle of life that brings us to wherever we may end up, juxtaposed with an Ethan who can’t seem to find peace, roped into an escalating series of circumstances that chips away at the barrier between him and his emotions. While each entry in Reckless is stand alone, designed to be read in any order, Follow Me Down is a companion to The Ghost In You, chronicling Ethan’s adventures that ran concurrent with Anna’s in the previous book. What happens to our emotionally numb anti-hero’s outlook on life when he’s not so numb? And is that numbness a blessing in disguise?įollow Me Down is a subtle and welcome break in the established Reckless formula, presenting a philosophical counterweight to what we’ve come to know about Ethan.
It’s a book that places a sharp contrast between its internal cathartic moment, and the expectations created by the rest of the series. While in pursuit of a woman named Rachel, the latest book in the Reckless series by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips and Jacob Phillips, asks us to interrogate how far we have fallen, and what we can never quite let go of. ( Dec.)Ĭorrection: An earlier version of this review incorrectly stated the book is part of a trilogy.Just like Alice followed the white rabbit down to wonderland, we again return to Ethan Reckless, as a case cascades him down to hell in the new graphic novel, Follow Me Down. This slick offering from an über-talented team, the first in a series, promises good things to come. Phillips drenches the pages in warm, saturated colors that provide an ironic contrast to the characters’ shady doings. An undercurrent of political commentary and judicious use of historical details, like the CIA’s domestic spy program, lend welcome heft to the pulpy proceedings.
Reckless is a quintessential noir hero, a jaded man who has countless secrets and a weakness for troublemaking women, and Brubaker and Phillips hit familiar beats with each plot twist and turn.
His attempt to help his ex recover stolen money brings him up against the FBI, the CIA, left-wing terrorists, plus old friends and enemies. Ethan Reckless, a freelance fixer and odd-jobs man operating out of an old movie palace, gets a call from an ex-girlfriend that drags him back to his tangled past in the hippie counterculture. The sure-footed latest hardboiled thriller from Brubaker and Phillips ( Criminal) hits the ground running, delivering both style and substance in its sunny 1980s California setting.
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