Destroy All Monsters (Reckless Series #3)

by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips (Artist), Jacob Phillips (Artist)

Overview

The next book in the red-hot Reckless series is here!

"Oh man, this book pushed every crime fiction button for me... Bliss."
- Patton Oswalt

Bestselling crime noir masters Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips bring us a new original graphic novel starring troublemaker-for-hire Ethan Reckless.

It's 1988 and Ethan has been hired for his strangest case yet: finding the secrets of a Los Angeles real estate mogul. How hard could that be, right? Only what starts as a deep dive into the life of a stranger will soon take a deadly turn, and find Ethan risking everything that still matters to him.

Another smash hit from the award-winning creators of RECKLESS, PULP, MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN JUNKIES, CRIMINAL, and KILL OR BE KILLED — and a must-have for all Brubaker and Phillips fans!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534319240
Publisher:	Image Comics
Publication date:	10/26/2021
Series:	Reckless (Graphic Novel) Series , #3
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	210,913
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 10.40(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	16 - 18 Years

About the Author

Ed Brubaker is one of the most acclaimed writers in comics, winning five best writer Eisner and Harvey Awards in the last ten years. His bestselling work with Sean Phillips on CRIMINAL, INCOGNITO, FATALE, and THE FADE OUT has been translated around the world to great acclaim, and Marvel's movies featuring his co-creation, The Winter Soldier, have all been international blockbusters. Ed lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their crazy dog, where he works in comics, film, and television, most recently on HBO's new hit series WESTWORLD.

Drawing comics professionally since the age of fifteen, Eisner Award winning Sean Phillips has worked for all the major publishers. Since drawing Sleeper, Hellblazer, Batman, X-Men, Marvel Zombies, and Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, Sean has concentrated on creator-owned books including Criminal, Kill Or Be Killed, Incognito, Fatale and The Fade Out.

He is currently drawing a new volume of the long-running Criminal series written by his long-time collaborator Ed Brubaker and coloured by his son Jacob Phillips.

He lives in the Lake District in the UK.

Jacob Phillips is a comic artist and colorist residing in Manchester, UK. He has been drawing his whole life, self publishing first comic. ‘Roboy’ at the age of 11 and selling it at Brighton Comic Con. Skip forward 16 years and today he is the artist on THAT TEXAS BLOOD with writer Chris Condon and NEWBURN with Chip Zdarsky as well as coloring projects such as RECKLESS, CRIMINAL and MADI.

Editorial Reviews

09/27/2021

Still up for a fight, Brubaker and Phillips’s Ethan Reckless is feeling his age in the slow-burning third entry of their Los Angeles noir series. It’s 1988, three years following Friend of the Devil, and Ethan is barely pretending to be a private investigator. But he does pick up a case, and it’s a doozie. Hired by a Black city councilmember to look into a scuzzy and rich white developer, Ethan is pleased to be sticking it to the Man. But the mystery plot ends up feeling like background as Ethan traps himself in pained nostalgia. Worried he is losing Anna—his trusty punk assistant and only friend, finally given her due in a touching origin story—Ethan loses himself in weed, old movies, and memories: “after a while, even remembering seemed pointless.” Moody washed-out art recalls the cinematic oddities that Ethan and Anna watch in their old movie house headquarters. Private-eye tropes like decadent upper-crust parties and corrupt cops abound, while sudden action scenes cut through Ethan’s hazy, guilt-ridden flashback narration, such as when he smashed a drug pusher’s face with a skateboard. It all feels less like a self-contained story than a prelude for a dark implosion heading Ethan’s way. Series fans will ride along in anticipation. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"Private-eye tropes like decadent upper-crust parties and corrupt cops abound, while sudden action scenes cut through Ethan's hazy, guilt-ridden flashback narration, such as when he smashed a drug pusher's face with a skateboard. It all feels less like a self-contained story than a prelude for a dark implosion heading Ethan's way. Series fans will ride along in anticipation." -Publishers Weekly

"Phillips imbues the sun-drenched splendor of Southern California with a nostalgic mournfulness perfectly keyed to Brubaker's script. Focusing on the fragile bond between Ethan and Anna exposes new depths in both of the characters, while building to a wrenchingly emotional climax." -Library Journal (starred review)

From the Publisher

★ 10/01/2021

The third installment in Brubaker's Southern California-set noir series (following Friend of the Devil) opens in 1988. Unlicensed investigator/troublemaker Ethan Reckless is estranged from his assistant Anna (both are white) because of his vocal disapproval of Anna's latest boyfriend. When a local white politician approaches Ethan for help taking down a business tycoon who habitually preys upon Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs, Ethan accepts the job, in the hope that ruining such a vile figure will bring him and punky, idealistic Anna together again. Ethan and Anna soon uncover a web of corruption involving blackmail, bribery, and an underground brothel. Ethan advises his client to notify the FBI; when the politician instead takes drastic action, Ethan and Anna find themselves targeted by vicious enemies. VERDICT Phillips imbues the sun-drenched splendor of Southern California with a nostalgic mournfulness perfectly keyed to Brubaker's script. Focusing on the fragile bond between Ethan and Anna exposes new depths in both of the characters, while building to a wrenchingly emotional climax.

Library Journal