Mister X: Hard Candy
By Philip Schweier
March 24, 2013 - 19:36
Dark Horse Comics
Writer(s): Dean Motter
Penciller(s): Dean Motter
Inker(s): Dean Motter
Cover Artist(s): Dean Motter
27 pages; $2.99
I’m a big fan of the whole “tough guy private
eye” genre of crime fiction. The overly-romanticized Sam Spades, Philip
Marlowes and Mike Hammers who walk the mean streets of the literary world are
characters right up my alley, to continue the metaphor.
So when the mysterious Mister X gets called in to resolve the kidnapping of a
pharmaceutical heiress, it all seemed familiar territory to me, right down to
the eventual resolution.
Hard Candy is well-written, though Dean Motter has crafted other stories
in the same vein which I have enjoyed more, such as Terminal City and Electropolis.
Both stories are set in the same universe as Mister X, but are separate, much
as Spider-Man is separate from the X-Men.
Mister X is a mysterious figure, a self-proclaimed protector of Radiant City,
an idealized dystopian metropolis, influenced by the likes of Hugh Ferris (look
him up) Fritz Lang and German Expressionism. He claims to be its
architect,
basing its development on his bizarre theory of "psychetecture" which
has resulted in many of Radiant City’s residents to go mad. In penance, he has
assumed the role of the city’s caretaker. This mission puts him in direct
conflict with a grotesque rogues gallery of villains, reminiscent of Dick Tracy.
The environment created by Motter for Mister
X is something of enormous appeal to me, though I must admit that were Hard Candy my initial introduction to
the character, I would be less than impressed. I found the story derivative and
disappointing, but the art is spot-on for its post-modern, 1950s style. It is
simple with its economy of line, clearly conveying what needs to be conveyed
without an excess of texture or misplaced Photoshop technique.
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