Purgatory USA #1 [1989] (Random Comics Theatre)

Random Comics Theatre

Purgatory USA #1 [1989]

Bit of a strange duck here, with what was planned as the first issue of a series but became a one-shot. Despite the cover jam piece by Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, this isn't a Love&Rockets spin-off, but an early book written and drawn by Ed Brubaker (credited as "Edwin" on the stories). Can't think of very many creator owned indy books that start off with a cover drawn by someone else entirely, and the actual creator not even named on the cover.

Brubaker sets the series in the fictional small town of Maynardville.  Brubaker does an introductory "Welcome To Maynardville" page introducing some of the characters and then three short stories. Two are standalone stories, "Chicken" and "A Minor Altercation", and the third is the first chapter of a projected 3-part story "The Rain". I'm pretty sure Brubaker never returned to Maynardville after this comic, and "The Rain" remains unfinished. He wrote and drew a few comics after, notably the series LOWLIFE, and then became primarily a writer.

I remember kind of liking this when it came out. I was about a year back into comics buying at the time, and willing to sample almost anything, and I think had already found a few favourites among Slave Labor's books. Might even have seen a house ad for this in one of them (in fact, I'm almost certain I remember the tagline, "Between Heaven and Hell lies Purgatory USA"). I guess I was forgiving of the huge dissonance between the quality of the art on the cover and the insides. I know I'd casually look around for a second issue, and would have bought it if it came out, but wasn't so impressed that I was that interested in Brubaker's other work.

Anyway, "The Rain" had a pretty promising start. It's partially a history of the town, leading up to what happened to make Herman, a descendent of the town founder, leave the town years earlier, with a mystery about why he's now returning. It's all told in narration, what would be a Morgan Freeman type voice-over if it was a movie, no dialogue. I kind of wonder if Brubaker intended to continue that, or it was just for the intro. Still kind of intriguing, but having seen a lot more movies and read a lot more books than I had when I read it at age 19 I can now see it as being a bit derivative. And the art does look a lot like the work Chester Brown was doing at the time...

(most of it. A few places look a lot like Love&Rockets swipes, especially the female characters)