The Scumbag #1 Review
By Carlos Melgarejo
There hasn’t been many books I’ve been this eager to read about; this is one of the few stories that can have a real impact in comics. This manner of blending comedic, drama, action, and spy-thriller, with the last faith in humanity left to the most incapable hands imaginable, has been done before, but not by the mind of Rick Remender, one of comics best current writers. What this leaves us with is a wild, disgusting punk rock story; enjoy it. This doesn’t happen very often.
The impressive work of Lewis Larosa hasn’t shined this bright, in my personal opinion, since Bloodshot. The first introduction to a story can be difficult, showing us our protagonist and or antagonists, who they are, their ambition. Well… Never have I seen it so properly executed before. Ernie Ray Clementine, our unintentional hero( If you can even really call him that ), lives up to this title. The Scumbag.
What is it about bars that show us the worst of humans? The punk rock location, filled with all sorts of characters. Ladies of the night, suit-wearing mobsters, drug dealers. All of whom, familiar with our Scumbag, not surprising.
A thief and addict, sadly a real problem in our world, on the lookout for their next fix, like most out of luck and desperate folk, they sink.
His ill-gotten gains earned by the work of another.
Larosa’s’ panels bring us for a closer look at a man so defeated, at his worst. In other words. Rock Bottom. With hilarious and truly disgusting results, and with an unhappy, horrified, disgusted audience. Please read the book; my words aren’t enough.
Oh, how so much can happen when one humiliating little crawl down the street into the alley makes you humanity’s last hope, and witness to a life and death battle between two dueling organizations. A tuxedo-wearing spy and a “sensibly” well dressed female spy, with elongated razor-sharp nails. Wanting a syringe of unknown contents, similar to Ernies’ own ill medicine. Wounded, she pockets the syringe off of the tuxedo-wearing spy—a last effort to retrieve Earth’s last hope, rolling over to the world’s worst person. Be ready; our world may not survive this. Bukowski was right; how well will you walk through the fire matters most…. but not through a world on fire.
Larosas’ combined with Moreno Dinisios colors, puts their art into a spectacular, well-lit feel of a world lived in. Rus Wooton and his lettering placement strike in all of the right places from bubbles to emphasization Remender never skips a beat, witty and serious.
From the first page to the last, all of it always keeps you ready and eager for the next. I can only wait for the next issue.
Rating: FIVE Pastrami Nations out of FIVE
