By John Whalen & Mike Hawthorne (Vertigo)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-748-8
The Un-Men were originally grotesque graphic cannon-fodder created by Len Wein and Bernie (then Berni) Wrightson for the second issue of the legendary Swamp Thing comic in 1972. They also appeared in Wrightson’s last issue (#10 – see Swamp Thing: Dark Genesis, ISBN: 978-1-56389-044-4) along with their malevolent creator Anton Arcane.
As part of that series’ ongoing theme of pastiching classic horror icons – Werewolves, Witches, Vampires and so forth – they were a grotesque and memorable visual backdrop for the tale of a wizard who dabbled with artificial life forms in an attempt to build a body he could live forever in. And thus far that’s all the overt connection to Swamp Thing in this phenomenally delayed spin-off, although some of the characters and the main premise stems from that landmark series.
In this first volume, collecting issues #1-5 of the Vertigo comicbook, we are introduced to the city of Aberrance, Texas; a tawdry tourist-trap with a unique line in themed entertainment. Government-sponsored, this town is occupied solely by freaks and weirdoes, and derives its income from the two million “normal†Americans who flock there every year to gawk at them.
Unsavoury as that might sound, it’s also a place with a big secret. The ruling hierarchy are not natural freaks in the grand old carnival manner, but rather the supernatural creations of Anton Arcane, who run the place with institutionalized elitism, disdaining all the other geeks, misfits and outcasts – or “Gaffs†– who have congregated there. In Aberrance the Freaks run the show, Gaffs do what they’re told and “Normals†spend their vacations and their cash feeling disgusted and thankful. There’s even a blockbuster Reality TV show “American Freakâ€, storming up the Nielsens…
The town only exists because a whistle-blower alerted the world to the fact that the US Military were running a weapons development facility trying to create better monsters for future wars. When exposed the Authorities sheepishly turned the place – an old Atomic bomb test site – into a Reservation for the Abnormal, with full independence and autonomy, but they’re still poking around there in more or less clandestine manner.
And thus we meet Phineas Kilcrop, albino Federal Agent for the US Department of Energy whose sorry remit is to ensure all those monstrosities stay where they’re put. When he returns a murdered escapee to Aberrance, he becomes embroiled in a war for independence, a bizarre conspiracy and the sheer insanity of a plan to rewrite nature. Moreover, the heads of the Un-Men elite all seem to know more about his clouded past than he does…
Fast paced and sharp tongued, this is an above average conspiracy thriller that could develop into something really special, although this first book doesn’t always hit satisfactory notes. Tinged with black comedy and with a lot to say about image, isolation and society, it hasn’t yet said anything here. You might want to pick this up for its potential to deliver, but I suspect most fans will wait to see how succeeding episodes play out…
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