Review by Diego Guerra
Just like Batman, Sable fights crime and maintains a dual personality. Unlike Batman, Sable charges for his work, and his alter ego isn’t to protect the freelance vigilante but rather because it would be embarrassing for a mercenary to also be a children’s story writer. With this second collection Myke Blackmon, the illustrator of these children’s tales, begins to sense that behind Sable’s apparent cynicism lies an immense existential void, a sadness that goes unspoken.
Volume 1 supplied an origin and established Sable’s curious dual life, and this introduces valuable characters. Gray Adler, a gay man whom Sable initially avoids but later accepts as a friend proved a rather historic development in mainstream comics. The appearance of gay characters was novel enough, but the acceptance was new. Sable finds an unwitting nemesis in Police Chief Josh Winters, who detests Sable for his presumed lack of ethics, charging absurd amounts for his rescues, while police officers risk their lives daily for meagre salaries. However, we’re shown Sable is not cynical or unethical, and in his way, he manages to indirectly apologize to Winters, acknowledging his merits through his alter ego, the writer B.B. Flemm. This volume also introduces Jason Pratt, an elderly Hollywood classic body double, an old friend of Sable’s, whose amusing personality is, in reality, the facade for a lonely and very unhappy old man. And finally, last but certainly not least, we’re introduced to someone who will be talked about a lot in subsequent volumes: Maggie the Cat, a jewel thief whose reasons for committing her crimes aren’t as petty as assumed.
Sable faces new enemies and experiences a curious and thrilling adventure with terrorists willing to launch a nuclear missile into American territory. He rescues an endangered witness, vindicates the honour of an alleged thief, meets a beautiful terrorist, and encounters an undercover agent who gives him a bad feeling. They are all beautiful, of course, and all are attracted to Sable. Nevertheless, he is unable to face sincere relationships with the opposite sex due to the ghosts of his tormented past.
The premise of this sceptical but extremely effective hero solidifies, and Mike Grell gives a human touch to his characters and stories. It doesn’t matter that Sable’s adventures are somewhat implausible, in the style of old pulp fictions as Grell makes them real to the reader, both through ambiguities of characters who are not entirely good or bad, and through realistic and careful drawing. Grell focuses on expressions, and the use of light and shadow, rather than neglecting the settings. He casually uses photographs as references, but the result is more than worthy; everything feels real. Sable’s adventures have a vintage but endearing flavour, a way of understanding adventure that today may seem unusual, but is perhaps timeless. Volume 3 follows.
