From the Longbox – Black Summer #4
We get it. Super powers make the government, any government, very nervous. Sooner or later an elected official is going to send National Guard and tanks down your block to kick your head in. It’s almost Shakespearian this trope has been around so long. It’s just never a good idea, giving a Super miles and miles of cannon fodder. Here’s what happens when you point a battalion at The Seven Guns (or what’s left of them). Who cleans this up? City Sanitation? They won’t even take air conditioners.
Black Summer was a project written by the infamous Warren Ellis, moderator of online forums, and creator of the gonzo “Transmetropolitan” among many others. While I read, and own, much of Ellis’ library it was the hyper detailed work of Juan Jose Ryp that made me pick up the first issue of Black Summer. Perhaps best known for his work with Frank Miller in Robocop Ryp’s art for the two Avatar series Black Summer and No Hero have given rise to the artist’s stock over the last three years.
You can get a taste of it here but every strand of hair, every scrap of shrapnel and every drop of blood is rendered with tireless vigilance. I’m not even sure how to describe the line work. Ryp lives and breathes giant, two-page, cast-of-hundreds, battle scenes. Below is another member of the Seven Guns and he’s not happy with this humvee. More from him later.
While the implants in her legs give her the ability to fly it’s unclear why she needs four feet of hair to shoot shock troops in the throat. (Did I forget to mention that Ryp has a long history in erotic comics? No? Sorry.)
Finally I just couldn’t ignore this panel. But this is what happens to your tank if you shoot a member of the Guns. It gets tackled.
