The United States of Murder Inc. vol. 1: Truth

I may bitch about the abysmal shipping schedule for “Powers,” but it’s still a series which shows that Bendis and Oeming do great work together.  It just takes them a lot longer to do it these days (and the link I provided being a rare exception to the rule).  One of the reasons for that is this new series that they started late last year.  You could question the wisdom of why two creators would start a new series before they finished off the previous volume of the old one and then go back to the old one in order to take advantage of the Playstation Network series — but I digress.  Bendis and Oeming clearly had a story they wanted to tell here, and this first volume of “Murder Inc.” does a good job of playing to their strengths.  You get lots of snappy dialogue from Bendis and striking visuals from Oeming.  There is one big thing holding it back, however.  That would be how the world they’ve created doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when you think about it.

First off, “Murder Inc.” was a real thing that dated back to the heyday of the mafia in the 30’s and 40’s.  It’s this idea of a unified criminal force that Bendis draws upon, with the idea being that America ultimately lost the war on crime.  Much of the East Coast was given over to the mob to run as they please and that’s the way it has been for the past few decades when the volume begins and we’re introduced to its protagonist, Valentine Gallo.

Valentine has a long family history in the Bonavese Family, with his grandfather and father contributing a lot to make them what they are today.  They were both made men, and the story kicks off with the ceremony that inaugurates Valentine into those hallowed ranks.  His first job as a made man:  Deliver a package to a U.S. senator and return to let his bosses know what the man’s response was.  Along for the ride on the trip is Valentine’s buddy Dino, and one Jagger Rose who makes her presence known by cracking a liquor bottle on an unruly passenger’s head on the train ride down.  She’s a hitperson for the mob and knows the rules of the game much better than this new guy whose back she’s supposed to watch.

Though Jagger’s presence should mean the delivery will go down without a hitch, it doesn’t.  The senator winds up dead and the members of the Bonavese Family are in an uproar amongst themselves and the other families in regards to finding out whose fault this is.  At the end of the day, Valentine just wants to go home and sleep all of this off.  Problem is that his mother has another surprise for him.  As it turns out, Valentine may have been raised to be a mafioso, but he was born into the Family for an entirely different purpose.

Valentine’s character arc is the strongest part of this volume, and its most compelling story hook for the future as well.  The fact that his first job goes horribly wrong isn’t surprising, and the twist involving his mother is only marginally more so.  What I liked about the character’s reaction to this revelation from his mom is how believable it felt.  Valentine’s response is to reject her entirely, which causes additional complications for the woman later, and continue on with life as he knows it.  How does one react when they’re told that everything they know in their life has been wrong up to this point?  Much like you see here.

It’s also worth noting that Valentine isn’t set up as someone who is meant to have a very bright future in this line of work.  During his induction as a made man, it’s pointed out that he’s getting the honor mainly due to his family’s history in the organization rather than his own merit.  This may seem like a small detail, but it makes the character’s haplessness in the face of the narrative quite believable.  He spends the events of this volume either one step behind everyone else, or getting his ass pulled out of the fire by Jagger.  In the midst of all this, Valentine does his best to play by the rules he’s been taught all of his life.  That they fail him in his hour of need makes him a sympathetic character and renders his fateful choice at the end of the volume utterly credible.

Jagger isn’t quite as interesting since her role in this story can basically be boiled down to “badass female assassin.”  Still, her badass credentials are established quite well in this volume.  From her very first appearance, it’s made clear that she wears the pants in her relationship with Valentine as the hitperson schools the newly made man on exactly what he should be doing.  She also knows how to handle herself in a gunfight, displaying deadly aim and a generous amount of creativity in nearly every shootout she’s in.  Really, Valentine is lucky to have her on his side.  The real drama in their relationship is likely further down the road, as it’ll be interesting to see how she reacts to her partner’s choice at the end of the volume.

Bendis’ dialogue also helps these characters come alive on their page.  His staccato rhythms, with its stutterings and flubs, always feel more natural coming from ordinary people rather than superheroes.  It’s also fun to observe the verbal confidence games his characters play with each other to assert their superiority.  Jagger gets the best ones as she taunts Valentine into trying to touch her boobs in their first encounter, and lets a CIA agent know just how terrible her plan was later on in the story.  Really, my only complaint is that we don’t get to see this kind of stuff more often from the writer as he’s still thoroughly committed to his work in the Marvel Universe at the moment.

Oeming’s work is likewise strong as his style is well suited to showcasing either verbal pyrotechnics or actual pyrotechnics.  The best example of the latter is a double-page spread of Dino witnessing an explosion — and Valentine being thrown away from it — as it puts the focus on the characters’ reactions to it in an unexpected way.  His characters also “act” in believable ways, projecting the right kind of emotion that allows us to buy into what they’re talking about.  This is handled in a pitch-perfect manner with Valentine and Jagger, as the former’s unsteadiness is clear in his body language while the latter projects utter confidence at almost all times.  It’s also something which is seen through the rest of the cast, from the Dons to the lowly foot soldiers.  There are more than a few parts in the story where it’s not clear that we’re meant to follow the panel layout as if it were spread over two pages.  Stronger visual cues are needed in that regard, but it’s really the only major flaw in the artist’s work here.

So with all of this going for “Murder Inc.” what’s holding it back?  Well, that would be the central idea that the U.S. would just give up a portion of the country to be run by the mob.  It’s not explained exactly how that works and we’re only given flimsy reasons as to how that came about.  We’re told that there are “territories” run by the mob and the U.S., but is this just a verbal distinction or is this something which can be seen on a map?  Also, why would the mob want to make such an overt power play in the first place?  As I understand it, their strength is in being underground and intentionally obscure so that it was never obvious where you needed to strike.  Actually emerging as a visible power does nothing but put a target on everyone involved, letting law enforcement know exactly where to strike.

The impression we’re given from this volume is that JFK’s assassination was actually a mob hit in response to the president’s failure to live up to certain promises and the success of this act emboldened the various families to stand up and fight for what they believed they were entitled to.  There was even a “Battle of Cleveland” in which the army rolled in and took back the city.  Why was this not done everywhere?  What agreement kept the government from taking out the mafia with extreme prejudice when they were engaging in open warfare on city streets?  It’s clear from the lack of information that we’re given that Bendis expects us to take the “What if the mob won the war on crime?” premise of the book at face value.  Either the writer hasn’t thought all of these questions through, or he’s saving the answers for subsequent volumes.  If it’s the latter case, that’s clear an error on his part.  The first volume of any series should be about establishing the believability of its world so that it doesn’t distract from the development of the narrative and characters.

“Murder Inc.” has a strong narrative and characters.  What it doesn’t have is a credible world supporting them.  As it is, I can imagine many readers picking apart the flaws of this world where crime does pay rather than getting immersed in the struggles placed before Valentine and Jagger.  I’m still interested in where their story is going, even if the world they’re living in doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.  If you can get past these issues with worldbuilding, then you’ll likely find this first volume to be worth your time.  Then again, you could just wait until the second volume, to be subtitled “The United States vs. Murder Inc.,” to see if these issues are addressed.

Given how fast Bendis and Oeming have been working together these days, you could be waiting for quite a while…