Kingpin: Born Against

Sometimes a character in a corporate-owned superhero comic book can change.  More often than not they don’t and even when they do change, they’ll usually revert back to type in a couple years.  Writer Matthew Rosenberg has found a way to turn this trait to his advantage in this miniseries which, going by its title alone, you could be forgiven for thinking that it’s about Wilson Fisk.  He does play a central role in the story, which is actually about a disgraced journalist named Sarah Dewey. She’s been recruited by Fisk to write his biography, an unvarnished look at his criminal history that he hopes will hold him accountable to the public so that he can move on to legitimate pursuits.  Except that even when he’s entering the political arena or running a successful charity he’s still the same ruthless, scheming, amoral mastermind who has to have things his way no matter what. Fisk is never going to change and the book is just a ruse to make people think that he has so that he can keep being himself.  So on one hand “Born Against” is about a man who has done some awful things trying to appear contrite before the general public in the hopes that they’ll forgive him and allow him to keep doing what he does best. Sounds very timely now that I think about it.

On the other hand, the real main character of this miniseries actually does get to change over the course of its duration.  Sarah was created just for this story, which is about how working with Wilson Fisk changes her. We’re introduced to her as she’s trying to make it as a sports writer, having ruined a promising political writing career and marriage as a result of her alcoholism.  Enter the former Kingpin, who recognizes her talent and appears to be genuine in his offer of wanting to help Sarah get back on her feet. Except that every little bit of help he offers comes with some small compromise that sees the journalist compromise her moral code just a little bit more each time until the end when…  Well, the ending is probably a bit too pat and could’ve used another issue to really show us what Sarah has become after all this. It’s still easy to see how the events of the previous five issues lead to the version of her we’re shown in the final two pages. This was a very unexpected route for a “Kingpin” miniseries to take, but it turns out to be a very worthwhile one.