Comic Review: Marshal Law - Fear and Loathing by Pat Mills
Now I'm sure long-time project and social media followers will know I love 2000 AD, the British comic. One of the most influential writers from that team has to be Pat Mills, who has written Judge Dredd, Slaine, Nemesis, Finn and ABC Warriors. Meaning when I had the opportunity to borrow one of his non-2000 AD stories for a read, I had to pounce on it! Enjoy.
Title: Marshal Law: Fear and Loathing
Author: Pat Mills
Illustrator: Kevin O'Neill
Fluff:
The big one destroyed San Francisco, and the rebuilt city is now called San Futuro. Into this city of genetically altered superheroes comes Marshal Law who is searching for heroes but he hasn't found any yet.
Get a Copy via my Amazon Link: Paperback
Page Count: 192 pages
Review
The story arc is a simple one to follow. It is the anti-version of the superhero genre; think Watchmen, think The Boys, think a little bit of Batman and think Judge Dredd. The heroes aren't real heroes; they are, in fact, simply humans with crazy powers and abilities, and when given power, they will ultimately fall to greed, lust, and pride.
This is proven in this story, where we see hundreds of people medically altered into Super Soldiers. The reason for this is to fight in a war (of course). Sadly, when these veterans return to the States, they struggle to find work and ultimately become warlords and gang leaders (like you do). With most of them gravitating to a post-earthquake San Francisco. Which has a vast no-go area in the city which looks like something from a Mad Max/post-apocalyptic film. These heroes are feared by the average human and prey upon the weak, wanting to show off their extraordinary powers.
Into this mess comes Marshal Law, also an ex-super soldier who, towards the end of the fighting, becomes tired of it all and, with the aid of his girlfriend, realizes he can stop these “heroes” from preying on the weak. Soon, Marshal Law is known as the Hero Hunter and works for a covert agency that wishes to police the superhumans. His look is very S&M, and he takes down heroes like nobody could ever imagine, but in this tale, his nemesis is Public Spirit (aka Homelander from the Boys), a much-beloved hero with a Darker Side.
The story is pretty well explored and thought out. Pat Mills has created a powerful theme and world for the characters. This is then brought to life by the talented Kevin O'Neill. But sadly, it isn't all good news. At points, it lost me, and I found my interest waving and got misted eyes as I auto-piloted some pages. That said, the story has a lot of backbone and isn't scared to punch hard at an overdone superhero genre. It has also aged well. And, of course, it seemingly inspired the Boys comic series as well. I would highly recommend reading it!
I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to comment below or seek me out on one of the social platforms I hang out on. Cheers to reading this.
