Union Station

Written by Ande Parks
Art by Eduardo Barreto

I think there's something that become inherently confusing about period comics where everyone is wearing hats.  It's not too easy to tell a bunch of white people in suits apart, is it?  I guess that's why comics developed around super heroes in gaudy, highly individualized costumes...

Anyway, Union Station is a period piece involving a shooting and massacre that happened in Kansas City's Union Station in 1933.  As the FBI bring a criminal, Frank Nash, through the station, Nash's friend tries to free him.  What follows is an intense shoot-out.  The rest of the book is concerned with the investigation into who was responsible.  There are some nice parts about Pretty Boy Floyd and J. Edgar Hoover.

The book is interesting, and Eduardo Barreto's artwork is as good as it always is, but the story seemed to lack a sense of dramatic gravity.  I never developed much of a feel for any of the characters, and often wasn't sure who was who.  This is not a bad book, but I think it would have benefited from a lot more space and room, as Park's ambitions became victim to the economy of space.  I would have been more interested in reading an entire book about the machinations of J. Edgar Hoover, and at times, I started to think that's what Park really wanted to write.

I much preferred Park's other period book, Capote in Kansas, with art by the incredible Chris Samnee.