Broken Frontier

Infamy is a town based on a tightly strung web of lies. The carefully constructed lives of its residents are about to come undone as people start telling the truth!

As the ‘Big Two’ comic companies fill the shelves with superhero comics every week, I have often wondered why indie creators would want to put their own babies into such an already crowded crèche. However, comics like Living in Infamy prove that there is so much to be done with the overall premise of the superhero story. What is clever about Ben Raab and Deric Hughes’ creation is that it is a tense drama, a crime thriller and a tongue-in-cheek comedy before it is a superhero story. Even then it is not a superhero story at all but rather a supervillain story with not a lick of spandex in sight!

Essentially, the town of Infamy is a witness protection program for supervillains who have turned on their even more villainous masters. These are the super-henchmen and women who have by and large turned their backs on crime and tyranny in favour of family and poker nights.

The four issue miniseries has a nicely constructed plot with a number of key characters who intersect in interesting ways. While there is an overarching story of a supervillain out for revenge there is also a dramatic story of a family falling apart and the mystery surrounding a snap frozen corpse. Raab and Hughes’ script is light and easy to read but each issue packs a solid amount of story.

The real strengths to this story are to be found in the nicely constructed characters. There is an ex-mafioso who is habitually armed with a diamond loaded rifle, a sub-zero Mr. Freeze type villain turned ice-cream van driver and an interdimensional being who annoys his retired host.

The artwork is not especially eye-catching or original but it certainly carries the style of the story well. Most enjoyable have been the comics’ covers. Issue one had a suburban scene of a man in bathrobe and slippers collecting the paper while wearing a comically out of place alien helmet. This issue’s cover continues the method of juxtaposition with an outrageously garish freeze gun being held up by a county official as evidence.

If Living in Infamy were a T.V. show it would be winning surprise Golden Globes for its ingenuity, humour and engaging characters.