Junior Baker the Righteous Faker

Daniel “Dizzy” Baker is a journalist who’s stuck covering boring weird stuff such as whether a glowing lake in Virginia is representative of something greater in the universe.  What he’d rather be doing is investigating the Clergymen, a reputed group of terrorists who are connected to a number of violent acts of vandalism but no one’s ever actually seen in person.  Dizzy is also interested in them because they’re also said to have some involvement with The Event, a mysterious happening that wiped out all evidence of superheroes in his world.  That’s what has captured his mind these days, even as fatherhood is imminent in his life.  It’s a journey that will take him down a long strange path filled with has-been villains, his long-lost dad, a mysterious bottle of tequila, and cosmic understanding.

Over a decade back, writer Joe Casey and artist Mike Huddleston gave us “Butcher Baker the Righteous Maker” an over-the-top story of superhero excess that was fun if you were looking to indulge in such a thing.  I haven’t read it in a while, but I’m not sure if doing so would’ve made “The Righteous Faker” any better.  What we have here is a story where Casey looks to be sorting out his own feelings towards the superhero genre, and maybe even some personal ones in addition.  This might’ve been interesting if he had given the story more focus, made Dizzy into a character that exudes more than thirtysomething malaise, and dialed back on all of the cosmic-stoner-awareness rambling.

Huddleston didn’t return for this project because finishing “The Righteous Maker” broke his professional partnership with Casey.  In his place we’ve got Ryan Quackenbush, who’s not bad, but his sketchy and impressionistic style suggests someone who also worships at the altar of Sienkiewicz but lacks the discipline of Martin Simonds.  Still, it’s hard to think this series would’ve been reading if any of these other artists had taken a crack at it.  “The Righteous Faker” is an unnecessary follow-up that only serves to further undermine what faith I had in its writer that remained from his heyday in the aughts.