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If memory serves me correctly, it may have been his graphic novel
Sea of
Red
and
Night Mary
, the latter of which I liked so much I’ve always wanted
to adapt it into a film. Yes, I think that was it. His name stuck in my head from
there and so I was looking out for Rick’s work as it appeared. I recall his work
on
Punisher
caught my eye -- when the creation of “Franken-Castle” brought the
ire of comic’s mainstream readers down upon him (that is until he turned Frank
back to normal) at which time the fans baying for his blood died down, and
grudgingly came to admit how good the series had been.
But it was with Rick’s unique space fantasy,
Fear Agent
, that I truly fell in love
with the guy’s work. Heath Hudson the Fear Agent and his world of the future
was a unique combination of science fiction plotted as only Rick could conceive
with its maddeningly original subversion of a classic -- like something created
during the Golden Age of Sci Fi and then turned on its head so at the same time
it seemed entirely fresh and new. Sometimes fresh and funny, something dark
and sad, and a series unlike anything before it. One that should be on every
serious comic readers’ shelf.
Other wonderful stories also came from his work (still ongoing) at Marvel, with
my favorite being the
Uncanny X-Force
which in my opinion ranks up there as
one of the greatest Marvel runs of all time. (Although I have to say I also have
great affection for his run in
Secret Avengers
, which he did with his partner in
crime on
Black Science
, Matteo Scalera.)
Bottom line, if Rick is consistent in anything, apart from obviously being a great
writer, it’s that his work is fantastically unconventional, constantly subverting
and playing with the norms of the genre and turning our expectations on its
head. Oh, and he tends to kill a lot of characters.
I think it’s now with Black Science that we see Rick drawing from his old work —
not, I stress, in a self-referential or derivative way, but rather, more combining
I’M NOT SURE THAT I R
BECAME AWARE OF RIC