Comics Fondle

B. Clay Moore’s The Leading Man is at its best when it’s not about its titular character, an actor slash super-spy (all big Hollywood actors are super-spies, since they’re often on location). When Moore’s writing that character, the comic drags. In the five issues, there’s only one scene when the character’s reasonably likable. However, when it’s all about the super-spy’s support crew, Leading Man really works. It’s funny and not because Moore’s spending a lot of time on his dialogue, trying to make it sound hip and funny (though he obviously does), but because the characters have time to develop some depth. The lead character never does.

There’s also the big problem with the concept. I had some vague ideas going in, but it’s just a stupid idea. The Leading Man seems like it’s been packaged for Colin Farrell or something. The actors as spies thing does not work and, though it’s amusing on first read, all of Moore’s details fall apart with any real consideration. It’s not a believable system, Moore’s Hollywood, and it gets distracting because he never gives up on it. Reading Leading Man, you get to watch Moore congratulate himself on his hipness, but so what? I’d much rather have a comic where the end didn’t leave me confused.

However, Jeremy Haun’s art is fantastic. Whether it’s the action scenes or the dialogue scenes, it’s fantastic. There’s a cinematic quality to the comic, apparently from the script–shots and so on–and the scripted ones tend not to work, falling flat, like the editor didn’t cut fast enough, but when Haun’s doing his own pacing, it’s great. Content-wise, Leading Man doesn’t offer much–its story time is really short and the lead character is shallow–but Haun’s art makes it rather compelling.

D

Recommend on Mahalo