Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Kieron Dwyer
Letterer: Ryan Yount
Price: $12.95
Publisher: AiT/PlanetLar
ISBN: 1932051147

LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS is the story of three outcasts making one big play for a new lease on life. Not enough for them to become somebody different - just enough to make things go a little smoother. Unfortunately, Cole, Justine and Billy chose the wrong bank on the wrong day. And now they have to deal with the consequences.

Written by relative newcomer Matt Fraction and illustrated by relative veteran Kieron Dwyer, LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS stars theme park owner and self-proclaimed town drunk Cole Caudle, his pilot girlfriend Justine, and their surrogate child, the simple-minded but physically impressive and mechanically inclined Billy.

Tired of being dubbed losers, they've decided to rob the local bank on the day that a shipment of government money should be coming in; what they find there instead is nearly eight million dollars of Vegas money that belongs to mob boss Vincenzo Falcone. Of course, Falcone wants his money back, and will employ any means necessary to ensure its return. So a truckload of goons head out to Caudle's run-down amusement park for a showdown in the desert. Bullets fly, mines explode, and goombas go down one by one as the book races toward its uniquely emotional conclusion.

LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS is a smart, funny, action-packed piece of work focused on the simple strengths of the medium and the simple joy of a swift, energetic reading. Like AiT stablemates ASTRONAUTS IN TROUBLE or THE COURIERS, it lunges for the entertainment jugular right off the bat with taut, dramatic action. At the same time, it seems to defy genre convention, with its shifts and tilts from mood to mood - it's alternately funny, dramatic, and romantic, and for the most part maintains an impressive balance between the tones. Yeah, sure, there are a couple of times when it seems like Fraction's narration is tipping the scales a bit too far in one direction, but mostly it's a rich, even read that can appeal to a wider range of sensibilities than the average action story.

Kieron Dwyer once again proves that he is one of the most versatile and unappreciated artists working in the medium. Over the past few years, he's gone from the gonzo, exaggerated cartooniness of LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR to bigtime superheroism in THE AVENGERS without a hint of awkwardness. The book's unique format (landscape printing on parchment-like paper) and original approach work well with Dwyer's sketchy, suggestive line and personal brand of controlled sloppiness. The characters and settings are grainy and warped, each imperfection exploited without being superfluous.

There's a texture to Dwyer's renderings that bring his objects and characters closer to reality: the dents and scrapes on the vehicles, or the mildly exaggerated facial features of characters like the pockmarked Pascal Thorpe, goon numero uno. The sepia-toned paper matches perfectly with Dwyer's penstroke, and his use of whiteout adds a subtle depth and dimension to the art. For the moment, LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS may be Dwyer's defining work, and that's definitely saying something for a creator as talented and experienced as this.

It's impossible to talk about Matt Fraction's writing without first discussing his background. Though LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS is only his second major release (after REX MANTOOTH), he'd already made a name for himself in some circles as one of the first comic activists, thanks to his work for comics websites Savant and Artbomb, and his year-long Comic Book Resources column Poplife.

As such, it's possible that Fraction is burdened by high expectations, but LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS is a good step towards matching them. Despite the occasional patch of unnecessary narration, and a few moments where he gets a bit too sentimental, the writing is of a generally high standard. His dialogue is sharp without being unnatural or pedantic in that annoying Mamet-like way, and each of the main characters is three-dimensional and fully fleshed in spite of their archetypal qualities.

Fraction's earlier work, REX MANTOOTH, tapped the comedy vein, and it would have been easy for him to have followed it up with REX MANTOOTH 2, but he clearly felt the need to go in an entirely different direction with LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS, taking a new look at what is essentially an old story. With any luck, he'll continue to stretch himself in new directions, utilising the same kinetic prose and irreverence that made his activist writings so enjoyable.

Fraction has definitely proven with LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS that he's more than the Internet personality of the month, and more than just a good dick joke writer. He's the real deal, young, talented, and passionate, and with plenty of promise for the future.

The immediate future will actually see Fraction reunited with Dwyer on the Western BIG HAT, scheduled for release from AiT-Planetlar sometime this summer, which will hopefully see Fraction develop further as a writer and smoothing out some of LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS' rougher edges.

Despite its few imperfections, LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS is a rare treat; A short, powerful sucker punch of a story that appeals to many factions of the readership without pandering to them. It probably won't change the way you think about comics, but it'll definitely keep you turning the page.

John Parker lives, works, and writes in Kansas City, Missouri.

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