Jon Evans (author), Andrea Mutti (artist), The Executor (Vertigo Crime, 2010)
Joe Ullen's better days are behind him. A washed up professional hockey player from a small town in New York -- where he's still remembered as a hometown hero -- he's been away from home for a long time. When out of the blue he receives notice that he's been named executor of an old flame's will, he decides to head back, see what things are like.
It doesn't take long at all for Joe to discover that Elora's no idyllic small town. He realizes fairly quickly that his ex-lover's "accidental" death was probably anything but, and he sets about trying to use the clues she left behind to piece together the mystery. Racial hostility and resentment simmers between the town and a nearby Indian reservation, and Joe gets caught up in some serious unpleasantness as he digs deeper into not only his ex's death, but his own past in Elora.
The distant past and the present come to a head in a showdown in an abandoned mine,where the town's dark secrets are exposed to the light of day, tearing open old wounds even as resolution is found for others. At the end of the story, Joe is hospital-bound, emotionally stripped bare by the events of the few days he's been "home."
Evans' story is unsettling, laying bare the inhumanity, the anger and the violence that can ruin even the best. The horror in The Executor is entirely manmade, and can't always be forgiven or expiated. The plot is fast-paced and filled with physical action (and perhaps a leap or two of logic that are a bit strained), and if the ending isn't a storybook one, it's more realistic and fitting.
Andrea Mutti, a veteran illustrator with considerable work for Marvel and DC under his belt, provides exquisite artwork for The Executor. His characters are physically unique, backgrounds are rendered in detail and Mutti's use of screentone is simply amazing, giving every panel a sense of real depth and space.
The Vertigo Crime imprint is still a young one, with a handful of titles, but this novel and the upcoming Area 10 indicate there are many good things to come in the future.
Jon Evans' site is here and Andrea Mutti's personal site is here.
Vertigo Comics is here.
