Broken Frontier

If the first issue is anything to go by, this series could easily have been called The Question, “The Five Lessons of Blood” being the title for the first five-part storyarc of a new ongoing.  Rucka’s favorite ex-Gotham cop Montoya in indisputably the hero of the piece, though by labeling the comic 52 Aftermath , Rucka is able to focus on the plot entirely, leaving all pretense of character, subplot, and supporting cast at the door.  This is a mini-series that, while starring a new DC mainstay, isn’t about her in the least.  It’s about the Crime Bible—where it sits in currently continuity, what it’s about, and what role it may or may not play in the upcoming Final Crisis, Montoya acting as catalyst for the whole exploration.

The series is broken into “Lessons,” the religious equivalent to Christianity’s “Commandments,” this first issue focusing upon the first such Lesson—Deceit.  So as you might guess from that label, the story is about a hidden truth, a deception that Montoya/The Question must unravel in her search for the last remaining copy of the Black Book itself.   Standing in her way is a cult called The Order of the Stone, a merciless band of assassin monks that live by the code of the Four Lessons of Blood.

Rucka writes a serviceable thriller here; there’s nothing remarkable about the opening chapter, but it’s well paced, plotted, and the twist ending, while unlikely to make anyone’s jaw drop, should surprise a few.  It’s great to see Montoya in solo Question action for the first time, though again her character, as a character, is entirely dismissed.  She’s utilized as a “Phantom Stranger”-like motivator, a less supernatural though equally mysterious figure that emerges to move the other players and events along as necessary.

In fact, the only exploration of character seems to stem from Rucka’s use of The Order of the Stone.  These monks and their beliefs, traditions, and mentality—both social and romantic as well as spiritual and fanatic—are all investigated, with hints of more to come.  So the Crime Bible, I suppose, in the end, is an aptly named mini, a book that does indeed focus far more of the antagonists of the piece rather than the usual heroic presence.

Tom Mandrake is the artist joining Rucka on CB, handling both pencils and inks, and he manages a wonderful sense of violent pulp mystery.  He brandishes a jagged and sketch-heavy style—nothing outrageously far from his usual work, but the pages herein are marked with a noticeable increase of aggressive layout and strokes.  Dave Baron delivers a better-than-average digital coloring accompaniment, and there’s even a gorgeous frontispiece by Steve Lieber and Eric Trautmann.  So a beautiful package, if dark and brooding and bloody can be beauty to you.

To an extent, Crime Bible is so classically set up as an episodic five-part package, that a certain amount of excitement is lost, specifically the mystery of what might be coming up next.  It’ll be five episodes, each a somewhat stand-alone mystery-thriller, that explores an idea of the new DCU that really did need to be explored, because it was offered up out of nowhere and never did give an honest explanation of itself, for its purpose or place in the grander scheme of things.

The series looks to be professionally handled, and, ultimately, a series of good-read yarns, solid and satisfying.  One piece of mystery to look forward to: only four “Lessons” are mentioned as being part of the Black Book.  But this series is titled “The Five Lessons of Blood."  So there’s at least one single something we can be chomping at the bit to find out about!