COMICS: Three Strikes

Three Strikes is the story of Rey Quintana, a kid on the run, and Noah Conway, the bounty hunter (Conway: "The term is bail enforcement officer. Asshole.") on his trail. The title of the story -- a five issue mini-series collected in trade paperback -- is why Rey is on the run. California's controversial -- and in my mind, deeply flawed -- "three strikes" law means that Rey, arrested for shoplifting a pair of earrings -- which makes it his third, though minor and non-violent, offense -- will face twenty-two years in jail on conviction.

Rey only gets into more trouble on the run, and the central question becomes, whose fault is it? Is the DA right, is Rey naturally inclined towards crime? Is the public defender right when she says it's Conway's pursuit of Quintana that forced him into additional crimes? Is it the bad influence of Rey's friend Billy, is it just a series of bad choices and bad luck, is the "three strikes" law itself to blame? (Personally, I blame society, but then, I always do.)

The two main characters are both sympathetic and both troubled. Conway is a cop who retired early to spend time with his wife and daughter -- but his wife divorced him, and his daughter hates him. Now he's tracking Quintana while simultaneously taking care of his daughter, trying to make up for being such a bad parent. And at first, he doesn't care about Quintana's situation, it's just another job, but slowly he begins to feel a responsibility for Rey -- he wants to stop him before he makes any more mistakes. And Rey is a good kid, in a very bad situation, but as the mistakes begin to pile up, he finds it easier and easier to justify the next one.

DeFilippis and Weir, a husband-and-wife writing team, have created a compelling and thoughtful work, and I think I'll be checking out some of their other projects on next week's visit to the comic shop -- there's Skinwalkers, which I've mentioned briefly before, Once in a Blue Moon, Maria's Wedding, and The Tomb, all of which are out in TPB, and they also had a run on New Mutants, which I almost but not quite want to check out (the X-characters don't interest me much, especially the second- and third-tier ones). And the black and white artwork by Brian Hurtt (same artist as on Skinwalkers) is great -- not flashy, but it presents the dark, gritty story very well, with distinctive and expressive characters (my only quibble is with his women characters, specifically the white women: the public defender, Conway's ex-wife, and his daughter all look like the same blonde woman).

Thanks again to Dorian for the good recommendation. I don't care what everyone says, you've got good taste!