ED REVIEWS: The S.H.O.P. (minimal spoilers)
Edward Douglas
David Yurkovich
Realism in a world of super-heroes seems to be one of the latest trends in
comics; just look at last week’s offerings with ASTRO CITY, RISING STARS,
WILDCATS and even aspects of SUPREME bring heroes into a real-world
environment. One comic last week may have slipped through the cracks, though
it offers the same amount of realism as well as a wacky cast of characters that
could compete with anything created by Bob Burden.
David Yurkovich’s comics aren’t frequent enough for my tastes, but every
book that he has published has been intriguing and singularly unique, leaving
me scratching my head while musing over what a creative mind like his could
bring to the world of mainstream comics if his talents were ever to be received
more widely.
After their actions get a civilian killed, the Philadelphia superteam
Threshold is restructured as an "authorized" superteam called the Super-Heroes
of Philadelphia (AKA the S.H.O.P), joined by a duo of violent super-humans who
fight crime by maiming and killing their foes. This ends up being a pivotal
development for this odd group of heroes, and Yurkovich uses the opportunity to
explore the individual morals particularly of Cosmopolitan, the team’s
magician, who narrates the tale n the past tense. The main plot resolves
around Cosmopolitan discovering a conspiracy within the Establishment, the
organization that regulates the "official" superhero teams of the larger
American cities.
Again, the realistic way that Yurkovich handles these characters and their
interaction is the main point of interest: for instance, a workout for S.H.O.P
is a game of racquetball rather than a high tech "Danger Room". I also liked
how Yurkovich handled the existence of another comic by Avatar Studios called
THRESHOLD within the story, as well as how he ties this story into his other
property, DEATH BY CHOCOLATE, with an appearance by the Metabolators.
Strange villains such as the Taxidermist, Pompom and Monterey Jack are a bit
of a tease, as they seem intriguing enough to warrant more exploration than the
single panel they receive, but Yurkovich does leave a lot of room for expansion
in this story which covers a number of years. Still, despite the silly nature
of some of the characters, this ends up being a very serious story that
doesn’t leave much room for humor. The resolution of the story is
predictable and a bit of a letdown after such strong plot development, but the
characterization and exposition more than make up for it by building upon the
histories of the S.H.O.P and the Establishment.
Yurkovich’s art is a bit of an acquired taste. He uses a fairly standard
eight panel grid to tell this story, but it’s how he lays out those panels
that makes the art work as well as it does despite his rather basic grasp on
facial expressions and anatomy. The strength of his storytelling and layout
abilities is probably more clearly seen in his work on Slave Labor’s THE
WAITING PLACE, but if you appreciate the work of Paul Grist and Ted McKeever,
you probably won’t be so bothered by the artwork.
It isn’t too hard to follow the story and the characters without any
previous knowledge of Yurkovich’s work, making this a powerful self-contained
story. Though this is a "prestige format" book, it’s an amazing value at
$4.95 for 64 pages. (Even DC and Marvel’s books of the same size are 2 or 3
dollars more expensive!) I really love Yurkovich’s bizarre vision of
superheroes, and I can only hope that his work will get more exposure and more
of the recognition it deserves, so we can see his work on a more regular basis.
Edward Douglas