Filler

Written by Rick Spears
Art by Rob G

This quick little graphic novel is basically Spears and G doing Sin City.  The book is in black, white and lurid red, and tells a noiresque story of a man who doesn't really matter (in his own estimation) who lets himself get sucked into some major drama involving a prostitute and her pimp.

John Dough (ok - that's a little heavy-handed) makes his money by being a police line-up filler - one of the guys that fill in the other four spots on the line-up - and by selling his blood.  He's about as anonymous as you can get.  One day, while having a smoke outside the station, he meets a prostitute that has been getting smacked around by her pimp.  She seduces him, and he decides to argue her case with the pimp.  Predictably, things start to go seriously wrong at this point, and Dough finds himself in the middle of a pretty sticky situation.

As is frequent in Spears's work, the writing is quite intelligent.  He's playing in a well-established genre, but he manages to do something pretty unique on the last page.  Much of the story is told in large silent panels that help to establish Dough as a quiet everyman and nobody at the same time.

Rob G is a good artist.  This is a pretty minimalist book, and his style serves that aesthetic quite well.  It's much more stripped down than his more recent work, like on the duo's wonderful Repo.  These two work very well together.  I liked Repo a great deal, and see their Teenagers from Mars as a masterpiece.  It's true that Dead West didn't work for me, but that is their only misstep in my eyes.