Turncoat by Ryan O'SullivanMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Got this off Netgalley. The premise sounded promising, and for the most part the story does justice to it. Our protagonist Duke is a mercenary, in charge of offing superheroes. That sounds like a tough job, but it's a lot tougher when you're as incompetent as he is. On top of that, he is forcefully partnered with fools and only ever given relative unknowns in the superhero game to kill.
Just when things are looking up he comes up against his ex-wife Sharon, a master assassin, always a step ahead of him and constantly stealing his hits. No hits means no money, and that is not what Duke needs.
'Turncoat' is a compilation of the six issue webcomic series. It is a silly satire (more like a riff) on the superhero genre comic books have now become defined by. While it is amusing in parts - especially its somewhat ironical ending, it is unnecessarily gory and violent in others.
The satire also doesn't extend to the comic industry's female character issue. There are only two women in the whole book, and both drawn with exaggerated features. They also play second fiddle to the male characters and are defined wholly by the men in their lives.
[SPOILER ALERT] At one point, when Duke realises that the bad guy has duped him into believing Sharon was stealing his hits, Sharon's house is attacked. While she has the big gun and protects Duke in one panel, in the next, her new husband Ron is happily handing over their child to her so she can run for protection while he takes out the bads with her gun. Hang on a second, no one knows what qualifications, if any, Ron has for using a gun and killing people, but we are made aware of Sharon's abilities; how come she's got to cower in a corner with the kid?
Also, Sharon's a stay-at-home mom, with the plan to go back into the hitman business when her son is 18. Does she really think that a) she'll be at the fitness level to pull this off, b) that anyone will hire a woman now in her late-thirties, early forties, that too in a field position c) that she'll have any mental capacity left to go out and do this job? It's so obvious that two guys have created this series, it's almost unbearable.
Aside from this, how come the only two women characters are drawn to be exactly the same shape and as appealing as possible, given the sartorial art style? The guys come as myriad caricatures, especially Duke, who looks like he's old enough to be Sharon's uncle, and I can't understand what the hell Sharon could have possibly seen in him! He's not a good person, or a nice person; he's drawn as not caring for his appearance, and is so stupid he can't make out the boy he thinks is his son has distinctively brown skin! I know the writers are trying to portray the polar opposite of superhero characters, but must they drag down a seemingly intelligent, though gravely underwritten, female character with him? [END SPOILER]
'Turncoat' has vivid art, if a little two gory at times, along with a good premise which is executed well. This book isn't outstanding or truly memorable. More rounded and diverse female characters would have really helped this book. Why is it so hard to get that?
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