American Carnage
Bryan Hill, writer; Leandro Fernández, artist; Dean White, colorist
DC Vertigo, 2019
An especially timely story, American Carnage is a nine-issue miniseries about alt-right politics. Businessman/philanthropist Wynn Morgan is at the center of it. His books (with titles like The Essence of America) and public speaking engagements have made him a hero to white supremacists. While he has managed to keep his hands clean, followers have engaged in violent acts, including lynching an FBI agent who was investigating them. That agent's partner is ordered to stop the investigation, but she can't let it go.
So she goes to a former FBI agent she mentored named Richard Wright. He left the Bureau in disgrace, and has been trying unsuccessfully to make a living as a private investigator. She offers him a chance at redemption, asking him to infiltrate the organization to discover who was responsible for the murder (unofficially, of course). They are both African American, but Wright is a light-skinned biracial man, uniquely qualified for the assignment.
He is successful in blending in, befriending Morgan and becoming his daughter Jennifer's confidant and lover. Maybe too successful: killing someone and being potentially framed for another murder, to start. That's before he and a Morgan loyalist in an Obama mask massacre a group of white supremacists who kidnapped one of Jennifer's friends. Jennifer hates her father, but she shares his racist views. Those views become much more dangerous when Morgan starts a Senatorial run as an independent--with an eye on the Presidency. Wright feels he has to do something, and makes an unexpected choice.
A powerful story, full of contemporary references that still resonate. Apart from that it's also an effective thriller, and one of the best of the latter Vertigo miniseries. Artist Leandro Fernández is especially impressive. Great storytelling and character design, as earlier on the Vertigo miniseries The Names with writer Peter Milligan and an arc in Brian Woods' Northlanders.
Replies
I bought this as it was coming out, and as I couldn't find one of the earliest issues, it became the first comic I bought digitally. I liked it, and thought there was probably enough there that it could have gone longer. Fernandez's art, in particular, was really striking -- I felt like his use of shadows really evoked Eduardo Risso.
I agree. I think I mentioned Risso in my review of The Names, and had the same impression of this one.
I thought this was a great series. I don't think it was originally planned as a mini-series (I of course could be wrong). To me, it seemed like the ending was accelerated once the Vertigo imprint was shut down.
I totally agree about the art, and it was a perfect fit to a story like this.
With the political angle to the story, it had a James Ellroy feel to it.