As our cynical protagonist works/punches/shoots his way through sunny California’s seamy underbelly, Brubaker explores how the idealism of the ’60s and ’70s eventually gave way to the narcissism and materialism of the ’80s. As a result, Reckless often feels like a deconstruction of the ’80s. Rather, it’s a nostalgia culled from Brubaker’s own experiences as a former Navy brat who became fascinated with horror movies and scream queens, Hollywood’s glory days, murder house lore, underground zines, and the Satanic Panic. Reckless’ nostalgia, however, isn’t of the sweet, innocent variety that undergirds Stranger Things. Now thoroughly disillusioned with society and living off the grid in an old movie theater, Ethan uses skills from his past to do odd jobs for people who need a private investigator, albeit one willing to use unorthodox - and extremely violent - methods to solve cases involving drug dealers, cult leaders, skinheads, and corrupt real estate tycoons. Some of that is the obvious ’80s nostalgia that flows through the series, which follows the adventures and mishaps of Ethan Reckless, a former hippie revolutionary (and ex-undercover FBI agent) who has slowly rebuilt his life after a violent accident in the ’70s left him with holes in his memory and psyche. Note: The following contains potential spoilers for Reckless. (I’ve posted reviews of Reckless’ individual volumes in my Cultural Diet.) I subsequently blew through the entire series - five volumes in all - in less than a week, and had that weird experience of reading something that felt like it had been written specifically for me. And suffice to say, it fully delivered on said promise, and then some. I was just attracted to the striking artwork, which promised a hard-boiled story filled with cynical men caught up in a world of violence and betrayal.

When I picked Destroy All Monsters off the library shelf earlier this month, I didn’t realize that it was actually the third volume in Ed Brubaker ( Captain America, Daredevil) and Sean Phillips’ ( Hellblazer, Marvel Zombies) Reckless series.

Reckless image comics