Bad Karma
Sully and Ethan are former army veterans who served their country and paid the price for it. In Sully’s case that means he was left with a traumatic brain injury and the mental instability that comes with it. Ethan, on the other hand, lost his leg and now experiences near-constant pain as a result of that injury. These injuries are in addition to the memories of some unsavory things they did in service of their country. Things that the two veterans were kept pretty well insulated from the consequences of.
At least, they were until this past Christmas Eve when, while Sully is visiting Ethan and his family, the two of them catch a bit on the evening news about one Aaron Carter. He’s an African-American man who was convicted of killing a Russian-American businessman fifteen years ago. Which is funny because Sully and Ethan were the ones who actually did the killing. Looking at where their life choices have left them, the two decide it’s time to start paying some of that karma back and use their skills to set an innocent man free.
A story about two disabled veterans struggling with what they’ve done with their lives, at Christmastime no less, does not sound like a recipe for an uplifting, let alone entertaining read. So it’s a credit to Alex De Campi’s smart and witty writing that “Bad Karma” wound up being really entertaining because of its subject matter rather than in spite of it. We see our two protagonists making the best of their situation in situations that trade on their status as veterans in ways that are both amusingly and darkly comic as well. Moreover, even though they’re not the commandos they once were, they’ve still got plenty of skills to take on the threats that come their way after they start kicking the hornet’s nest.
Said threats are pretty familiar for a story that uses the unscrupulous things our government gets up to as a starting point for its story. Even so, it’s still easy to get invested in the story thanks to the time De Campi takes in having us get to know the characters involved. While Sully and Ethan get the bulk of the character work here, every member of the supporting cast shows that they’re more than their initial impression. Ethan’s ex-wife Cheryl may initially come off as the kind of harridan who doesn’t look like she understands what her husband has gone through, yet is eventually revealed to understand and sympathize with him enough to go on this whole crazy adventure with him.
If there’s anyone who could’ve used more development it’d be the villains of the piece. Maybe not the generic grunts who do a lot of the actual menacing in this story as they’re meant to reflect what our protagonists were like before their lives took a turn. However, the ringleader is so thoroughly and one-dimensionally evil that he even gives a big villainous speech about his motivations that’s over-the-top even by Bond Villain standards. It’s the one big plausibility-breaking moment in a story that, while maybe not exactly realistic, was certainly more grounded than this.
That grounding is also due to solid work from artist Ryan Howe. Neither excessively detailed, nor overly cartoonish, his work strikes a solid middle ground that draws you in with his appealing and emotive character work. Which is good because the story relies A LOT on being able to empathize with the characters and their situation. It’s also elastic enough in its presentation of reality to whimsical-cum-murderous diversions like Sully and Ethan’s description of how they did the killing that set the story in motion.
It should also be noted that “Bad Karma” was originally published digitally on the Panel Syndicate’s website in a pay-what-you-want format. I picked up the print version in hardcover for $30, which I think was a good deal given the story’s overall length. Regardless of whatever format sounds best to you, you’ll be in for a good time. De Campi and Howe deliver an engaging story with lots of memorable characters which shows you that something which involves disabled vets, innocent death row inmates, family drama, and bad deeds by the government don’t have to add up to a bad time.