This month, Dark Horse Comics will release a special library edition of its series, Minor Threats, containing the first two volumes of the series – A Quick End to A Long Beginning and The Fastest Way Down. Minor Threats is written by comedian Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum who had previously collaborated on the MODOK series on Hulu, and it is illustrated by Scott Hepburn.
Minor Threats centers on former villainous sidekick Playtime after she is released from her latest stint in prison. Playtime had been a sidekick to her mother Toy Queen, and the two of them terrorized Twilight City and battled its champion, the hero Insomniac. After the villainous Stickman crosses a line with his arch-nemesis Insomniac, Playtime is thrust back into her old life with a group of fellow C-Listers who take it upon themselves to preserve their tenuous status quo with the heroes by taking down Stickman themselves.
What struck me about this story was how quickly I grew to care about these characters. With each chapter, Oswalt and Blum brought out the humanity in these villains by exploring their origin stories in flashbacks. Sure, some of these characters are despicable, but like all the best-written villains, you can at least understand their point of view. They have all committed crimes, but these are also people who have the capacity to love deeply and it’s these basic human traits that draw the reader in. The writers also seem to convey supervillainy as a kind of addiction and a trap no one can escape. Many of the villains in this book either can’t see the bars around them or simply want to remain ignorant.
I enjoyed the second chapter in this edition even more than first. It is an excellent study on the corrupting and ephemeral nature of power. We are also given a deeper look inside Playtime’s mindset as she assumes her new role in Redport, her home neighborhood in Twilight City. I don’t want to reveal too much and ruin this story for new readers, but we are confronted with a Playtime that challenges what we thought we knew about the character in the previous chapter. In the first arc, Playtime seemed like a down-on-her-luck supervillain, looking to lead a new life – a confident young woman who, though a villain, had a strong moral code. Cracks in that façade come with every turn of the page in this second chapter and leave the reader wondering if some scars just run too deep to heal.
The world of Twilight City is brought to life by Scott Hepburn who brings out a lot of emotion from his subjects. Hepburn reminds me a lot of Kevin Maguire, with his detailed facial expressions. His character designs give these bottom-tier villains a strong Silver Age vibe that made this world feel like it had a weighty history. As with every collection, Dark Horse also provides a large amount of bonus material, and I really enjoyed the insights into Hepburn’s work process from the early character studies and drafts. I especially got a kick out of seeing young versions of the older villains we are introduced to in a scene that takes place at Playtime’s mother’s apartment complex which turns out to be filled with retired supervillains well past their prime. Ian Herring’s color work really brings out the dynamic action of Hepburn’s pencils. In the second chapter, Herring is called upon to design different color schemes to represent each member of a young super team’s power set and succeeds in giving each hero a unique feel.
The amount of sheer worldbuilding that is accomplished here in just two chapters is astounding. Twilight City feels like a real living place full of character and history. Oswalt and Blum have created a world I can’t wait to return to, full of engaging and fully realized citizens. Not mention, this comic is full of humor and heart to spare. I can’t recommend this highly enough.
Creative Team: Patton Oswalt (co-writer), Jordan Blum (co-writer), Scott Hepburn (artist), Ian Herring (colorist), Nate Piekos of BLAMBOT (letterer)
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Click here to purchase.
