Men of Wrath
Jason Aaron, writer; Ron Garney, artist
Image Comics, 2018
Aaron and Garney present a short, brutal picture of a Southern family with a history of violence. Originally published by Marvel's Icon imprint in 2015, this Image edition is billed as the "Complete Collection." Alabama family the Raths seem to have gone down a troubled path since Isom Rath killed a neighbor over a dispute about stolen sheep in 1903. Jumping to the present, we witness the stone-cold execution of a couple by Ira Rath--capped off by the murder of their infant, almost as an afterthought.
His estranged son Ruben has gotten himself into financial trouble, and his attempt to make things right by joining a late-night horse killing meant to send a message goes horribly wrong. Ira accepts the contract to kill his son, and things become even more complicated from there. His first attempt fails, and he finally does his best to help his son, but that goes wrong, too.
In short, bad things happen to good people and bad people alike. It's an incredibly violent story, graphically so: Garney delights in turning his superhero comic artist skills to a considerably more gritty, realistic subject. The amazing thing is Aaron's narrative about how much of this is based on his own family history. Men of Wrath is Southern Bastards turned up to 11.
Replies
I know I read the first issue of this back when it came out, but I'm pretty sure that's the only one I read. I thought it felt like Southern Bastards. I think what caused me not to read any more of this book is that I heard an interview with Jason Aaron.
In his letter columns, he comes off as a Southern-fried tough guy. But then in the interview, he was so soft spoken that it made me realize (or possibly just think) that the country boy persona was just a facade, a product of his writing skills. Somehow, the fact that he seemed to be faking who he was, it pretty much ruined all of his writing for me.
This probably seems either unfair or an unnecessary hang-up, but it's just how it worked with me. Of course, writers have to write all different kinds of characters, but they don't have to act like they themselves are someone other than who they are. I do continue to read Southern Bastards, but none of his Marvel work anymore. Even Southern Bastards has lost a lot of its punch for me.
I've met him, and have to say that he seems more soft-spoken writer than tough guy. But at the same time, key elements in this story come right out of his family history, so I don't know. His true self is probably somewhere in between. If he came off as a complete Southern yahoo in person I would wonder how he could write like he does!
I just need to stop listening to interviews--I had a similar reaction to hearing an episode of Word Balloon where John Suintres talked to Bill Morrison, who I had always figured was really funny and outgoing based on his writing and his work on Simpsons Comics. Now I can't even read his work without picturing someone so sad-sounding as the mouthpiece.