Broken Frontier

The location: Bent Creek, North Carolina. In the foothills of the mountains, the mysterious Ghost Lights of Brown Mountain are the back drop for a rash of brides who have gone missing. The cops are at a loss so they do what anyone would do... call the Atheist.

Phil Hester does a remarkable job of characterization here. In fact, the character of Antoine Sharpe is so skillfully executed that this second volume of the governments top skeptic consultant is actually more accessible than the first story. With a flashback to his childhood and watching him in the field, you get a sense for Antoine’s razor sharp intelligence and his willingness to do what is necessary. Unfortunately, for our mysterious agent, what is necessary can be rather unpleasant, but when the fate of the world is in the balance, he is capable of making the tough choices. Of course, he only makes these decisions after careful, skeptical analysis of situations that would otherwise be deemed impossible or supernatural.

The opening scene in the present is the most important character development here. Being called off to a town that is as small as Bent Creek (trust me being from NC, this is the kind of place that if you blink, you will miss entirely) is obviously a very big deal. We aren’t told why these disappearances are of such importance at a national level, but we know of it to have critical implications because Antoine is called from a high profile bomb threat to go check out this mystery. The bomb scene also illustrates Sharpe’s intellect. The guy is so smart that he figures it all out just by talking to the victim at the scene. Forget Batman; this guy could give Detective Chimp a run for his money.

There is also some excellent writing in the juxtaposition of the bigotry displayed by both Sharpe’s driver and the Deputy in Bent Creek with the more wizened attitudes in the responses from their respective bosses. It makes clear to any reader who may not be aware that Antoine is black. More importantly, it plays on the stereotypes of the angry African-American male (read Chuck D) and the back woods hick cop (read Roscoe P Coltrane). Showing their superiors in a different light adds for some deconstruction of those same cliches while acknowledging the inherent truths that make the images so potent.

Mellon’s pencils, like Will Volley before him, are not as good as John McCrea. However, Mellon handles the desired contrast well and like his predecessor before the end of the book, the reader wonders why he thought the art may have been inferior. The storytelling is solid and taut even when the lines may be a bit vague or too busy. Maintaining the lack of grey scale is a statement about the race of the characters. This is not some gimmick, race doesn’t matter and people who deserve respect will command it.

The Atheist remains Hester’s most accomplished writing. Sharp’s incredulous approach makes the book stand out from all of the similarly themed books on the spinner rack. It’s kind of like Scooby Doo sans the talking dog and a laugh track!