Graphic Novel Reviews: Reckless

Ethan Reckless is a man who’s made a living picking up side jobs tracking down people and things and collecting a bounty for his services. Lately money has been hard to come by and jobs aren’t as attractive as they once were. One day he receives a message from an old acquaintance asking him to meet up about a certain person named “Donovan Rush.” Intrigued, he travels to meet with this mystery woman who turns out to be Rainy, an ex-lover from a decade ago and she has a job for Reckless. 

She wants him to track down a man named Wilder who she robbed a bank with and retrieve her cut of the money they stole. Wilder took off after the robbery and claimed there was no money, but Rainy believes otherwise. Reckless takes the case and tracks Wilder for her. He faces one of his toughest cases spanning the entire state of California and runs into plenty of hiccups along the way.

Blood, drugs and beatdowns fill these pages meant for a mature audience. “Reckless” is full of everything readers of Brubaker and Phillips have come to love from the Eisner award winning duo. A pulp fiction that follows a roughneck detective on the trail. The story and illustrations work extremely well together, it’s no surprise they have decided to work together again. 

Award winning and nominated series by the two include: “Fade Out,” “Criminals” and “Fatale.” Fan’s of their work will quickly add this to their must-read list. This is the first of a three-part series that is set to be released over the next year. This series will be a must have for public libraries, but may be a little too mature for school libraries. It’s time to kick butt, take names and get a little reckless!