Caper #3

December 29, 2003

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Market Street Part Three

The Weiss brothers launch their plan of revenge against Boss Cohen.

Writer: Judd Winick
Art: Farel Dalrymple
Colors: Guy Major
Letters: Rob Leigh
Editor: Bob Schreck
Cover Art: Farel Dalrymple
Publisher: DC Comics

Judd Winick’s Jewish mafia drama approaches the end of its first story arc as Izzy and Jacob Weiss launch their plot against their own mob boss. Last issue, Boss Cohen murdered the woman Jacob loved. The brothers vow to strike back (Jacob claims it is not about revenge, but about right and wrong, but the reader knows better) – but know that attempting to conquer him head-on would be tantamount to suicide. Their solution? Precipitate a gang war.

After reading the first issue of this series I thought Winick needed to come up with some new twist to differentiate this title from the hundreds of other crime dramas out there. I think he’s done it with this issue. In most stories, this would have been the issue where the Weiss boys start their bloody killing spree, moving their way up the ranks until they killed Cohen himself. Instead, they think their plan out, killing just the right people and putting just the right pieces in motion to allow Cohen’s mob to crumble around him. It’s a smart, crafty movie that makes this story stand out a bit from the rest of the pack.

Dalrymple continues to impress with this story. His artwork has a gritty, angular style that makes the entire story read like it takes place in a world of anger and despair. I don’t know what else he’s capable of, never having seen any of his work before. This isn’t a style that would fit a mainstream title, a superhero or science fiction book or anything like that, but Dalrymple could definitely have a future illustrating these sorts of smaller, darker tales.

The only real complaint about the issue is how often the characters lapse into what I must assume is Yiddish (since I don’t speak it). I don’t have a problem with this in and of itself, but I do wish we could get a translation or a glossary, because in many of the angriest scenes in the comic, I’m left trying to pick out the conversation by context.

Now that Winick is beginning to pull this story in a new direction, I’m much more interested in seeing where it goes. With only one issue left in this story arc but nine issues left in the series, there are many, many directions this tale could take, and it will be intriguing to discover which ones the writer chooses.

Rating: 7/10

Caper #2

November 23, 2003

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Market Street Part Two

Izzy and Jacob Weiss re-evaluate their position in the mob in the wake of last issue’s killing.

Writer: Judd Winick
Art: Farel Dalrymple
Colors: Guy Major
Letters: Rob Leigh
Editor: Bob Schreck
Cover Art: Farel Dalrymple
Publisher: DC Comics

Again, DC, I must ask – why is this not a Vertigo title? A brutal, bloody, graphic tale of the turn-of-the-century Jewish mafia… this is a title that would really stretch the boundaries of the imprint, but instead it’s got a DC Bullet and a “mature readers” stamp on it.

It was only marginally impressed by the debut issue of this title, but the second issue takes a turn that makes it much more interesting to me. The story of the Weiss brothers, in the first issue, seemed like a fairly generic hitman story. In this issue we get the added twist of making it a love story too.

Jacob Weiss had been having an affair with the wife of Myron Gomberg, a simple bagman in Boss Cohen’s mob until his death in the first issue. What we didn’t know is that Cohen, the man who was like a father to the Weiss boys, had his eye on Rachel Gomberg himself – who, by the way, is pregnant, and the child may be Jacob’s.

The turn of events in the issue inevitably reminds me of DC’s other great crime drama of the past few years, Max Allen Collins’s Road to Perdition. By the end of this issue the Weiss brothers seem to have decided to embark upon a path very similar to Michael O’Sullivan. This isn’t a bad thing — Perdition was a fantastic comic book. I just hope that Winick keeps pulling the tricks out of his hat and making this a different story than any of the stories that it echoes right now.

Dalrymple is proving himself to be a really great artist for crime dramas. The characters have realistic form and anatomy, the coloring and style is very film noir. After this, I’m more interested to see issue #3 than I was to see this issue after the first one, and that’s definitely a step in the right direction.

Rating: 7/10

Caper #1

October 27, 2003

Quick Rating: Average
Title: Market Street Part One

Two young Jewish brothers at the turn of the century make a name for themselves in the mob.

Writer: Judd Winick
Art: Farel Dalrymple
Colors: Guy Major
Letters: Clem Robins
Editor: Bob Schreck
Cover Art: Farel Dalrymple
Publisher: DC Comics

Can somebody, anybody explain to me why this isn’t a Vertigo title? Books like Empire and Fallen Angel, I can almost understand why they keep them under the DC Bullet, but with this book, I don’t comprehend it. We’ve got all the good hallmarks of a “mature readers” comic – sex, violence, language – but we’re not in the pioneer “mature readers” imprint. It makes no sense to me.

Winick tells a good, if not totally original, crime drama. Izzy and Jacob Weiss enter the world of organized crime when they balance the scales for their father’s death in a shockingly cold fashion. All grown up, they get mixed up in a conflict with the potential to explode into a mob war.

Winick delves into something I’ve never really seen get attention in crime dramas before – a Jewish mafia. It isn’t something that necessarily springs to mind in a genre usually dominated by Italian stereotypes, and it gives this title its most interesting twist.

Dalrymple is a new name to me, but I rather like his dark, rough style in this book. It fits the story well, although his portrayal of the Weiss boys can’t help but bring to mind images of the Blues Brothers.

It’s nice to see Winick branching out into this very atypical story for him. I suspect we’ll have to wait for the end of this 12-issue miniseries to determine how successful an experiment this is for him.

Rating: 5/10