Smile or I'll take your teeth away
This is a story about a bum, called Dan, who has no recollection of his live before the year 2000, who lives as a hired detective of some sorts, retrieving personal objects or doing different errands for his clients, receiving as reward petty cash or even the classic products of beer and sex. Dan is invincible, nothing hurts him at all, he can't bleed, his bones don't break, he's immune to fire and drowning, he eats bullets for breakfast, so he's the kind of guy for hire that can really deliver. Dan lives by a moral code of having no possessions, just a toothbrush, hence why he lives in the streets and has (or has not) a best friend named Tober, who's also a homeless guy like him. But Dan's perfect life is about to change all of a sudden when he's visited by an alledged daughter of his, looking for protection and his services, hiring him to come with her, secure her brother and sisters and "avenge" their mother's tragic killing. This involves busting in a religious cult created by a con/vicious little man that used to be a valet in Hollywood and like any strange cult, there're tons of weird and derranged followers, all of them to be crushed under Dan's hands (some officers of the law too). Ok, it seems to me that this series had nothing original going on, what started as a promising noir/pulp story quickly evolved in a tasteless bad joke with terrible narrative and characters. Lapham really disapointed in this series, at least the first six issues/first arc story, even the transition between one issue to another was made wrong, with boring and unnecessary repetitions. There were some good moments of course, this wasn't a complete failure, but if you're looking for something new and cool, this book has none to offer. I believe the characters, even Dan, weren't interesting enough: the daughter was raped several times, but acted like it was all dandy; Dan with his amnesia, with his strange and unexplained powers; the bad guy was terrible; the journey and the D-rated movie characters in pursuit of them were so bad (imagine Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers gone wrong and you can start to feel the terrible duet that was Peep and Bobo). It feels that Avatar pushes the whole blood, guts and sex too much after the hit "Crossed" and I'm a little tired of all that - hey I like violence in comics, but it has to mean something or at least be good executed and this series definitely weren't. Dan is just a super heroe trapped in a hippie mind, who cares for nothing, doesn't remember who he is and the best oppportunity for some answers is burnt away in the end, so I think I just don't care anymore for this book. Even with the bad transition from issue to issue, the trade must be a good offer if you're interested in seeing some serial punches and hardcore action, but if you're looking for originality (I would say this is Hancock meets Crossed)I wouldn't recommend this book!