The Goon: Chinatown
All of the work done by Eric Powell is simply amazing. His work only gets better as it goes. "Chinatown" is no exception. The events that occurred in Chinatown have been hinted at for some time and now we finally see it in all its glory.
Chinatown is told as a flashback amidst confrontations with a new villain, Mr. Wicker. Wicker is one of the few villains that if physically a match for Goon. And he is out for war.
In Chinatown itself, the Goon reunites with an old flame from his carnival days who is enslaved to a new Chinese crime boss. The Goon's attempt to free her puts him at war over the docks. Of course the Goon is ultimately the victor, but at a price.
The Chinatown story changes many things. The reader comes to a new emotional understanding with Goon and some other recurring characters at Norton's. This elevates Powell to a new level. And as the story's opening pages claim, "This ain't funny". The story is completely serious, and absolutely fantastic.
The art is as wonderful as Powell always delivers. This book really shows Powell's latest evolution. Where his art used to be somewhat cartoony, the lush colors are simply amazing, and consistent with his latest issues of The Goon. The flashback portion of the story is all in grayish tones, giving it that "memory" kind of feel.
The book itself is also fantastic. It's a hardback with deep red colored cover with Goon front and center. This is a book that could be put on display.
As Powell's first stand-alone graphic novel anyone not familiar with The Goon can pick this up and still enjoy a great story. And as Powell's awarding winning record shows the tale of the Goon is a tragic and compelling story.
A little backstory
Chinatown allows us to flashback to the oh so tantalizing hints we have gotten in previous episodes about how Chinatown impacted the Goon and how he looks at the world these days. It also has a parallel story running at the current time, this one has a dame in it just like Chinatown did. In both, he is rebuffed by a woman who he tries to open up to or fall in love with. The title of this story could have been Dames and would have been an accurate picture of things. We also get to revisit some of his memories of his Aunt, the Carny who took him in as a child, perhaps the only woman in his life who never turned on him but ended up dead instead.
I have to admit I agree with all the reviews here, despite the fact that there seems to be two sets of thinking with the four I have read. This is a serious piece with none of the comedy elements found in every other Goon story I have seen so far. I like how that plays in relation to the entire Goon saga. Eric Powell has shown touches of emotional depth in previous episodes and this ones shows us even more about what has made the Goon who he is, but it still did not go far enough. Much of the "why's?" of what happens in this tale are still shrouded in mystery. We are educated, finally, about why Chinatown is such a dark spot in the Goon's history but we still do not understand the details. We know about as much as the Goon does in the end, as to why this woman or that did what they did, rather than gaining any further insights. Don't get me wrong, it still works here, because I appreciate the overall story quite a bit and this fits in quite nicely. It is not, as another reviewer stated, a good place for a newcomer to join in, because this certainly does not give a taste of what the Goon is normally all about, but for those who are fans, this tale definitely fits quite nicely in the Goon universe. Overall, I enjoyed it quite a bit.
"This Ain't Funny" well, maybe it should be...
Giving Powell every opportunity to pull out all his artistic chops, CHINATOWN gives readers of THE GOON some more backstory and a chance to see Powell cut loose. The Goon has always reminded me of early Popeye comics, with outrageous visuals and a rough hewn hero, (Of course Popeye wasn't a crime boss, who destroys zombies and people that annoy him, but you get the point.) but this book amps up the serious aspects of the comic and shows that under this kind of scrutiny the humor is a necessary component; The Goon as a melodrama doesn't quite cut it. For fans, it's worth the purchase for some answers to lingering questions about the character and to see some of Powell's best artwork. But this is not the place for the casual reader to start; it doesn't really give an indication of the outrageous humor that balances out the book's darker tendencies.
Sadly Much Less Than Powerful, Much Less Than Satisfying
Eric Powell's Chinatown, the most highly anticipated and mysterious part of The Goon's story, is sadly disappointing. Powell brings out one cliche storyline after another cliche plot element to the point that the story gets weaker as it goes along. The ending is completely anticlimactic. Fans already knew that The Goon had women problems, and Powell simply seems content to reiterate that. (WARNING: SPOILERS included past this point.)
The only true mystery in this part of The Goon's narrative turns out to be the very worn out trope of a person who feels belittled by those who would keep him down and decides to take his misguided revenge on others for his life at the bottom rung of society. Mr. Wicker turns out to be nothing but a boy who, with no provocation and no buildup in the storyline, somehow finds a book of evil magic, somehow knows how to use it, and somehow loses the book inside The Goon's bedroom which is supposed to be the biggest clue in the story. As well as pieces of thorns found outside on the Nortons' doorstep. After The Goon dispatches the boy, we get him saying "I hate you" in a scene of pure Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith plagiarism and Mirna, who's had a love / hate relationship with The Goon for several issues, saying, "You killed my brother, you S.O.B." And I know The Goon's a tough guy, but there's no way he could have survived being burned alive. Powell asks his fans to suspend way too much disbelief in this sadly shoddy story. The women characters here are all shells. There's nothing behind them but sexiness, spiteness, and weakness. There is nothing more behind Isabella's betrayal of The Goon than an inexplicable decision to leave him for (another cliche) a greased-up, pin-stripe wearing Eye-talian with a hot car. These are a few of the many examples of how Powell, in my opinion, simply fails his reader. Personally, the most powerful part of the story for me, since I knew Isabella betrays The Goon (it's been hinted at in many, many issues), was why she is in Chinatown in the first place. Powell knows he has to speak to this. All we get is her saying, basically, that things went bad for her after the carny days and The Goon's joyful and hope-filled adolescent fling with her. And then the story goes on. So basically Powell builds up all these hints and references for a mere footnote annotation. It just doesn't work for me.
What does work here is the art and the book as a product. Powell's art is unparalleled. And the book itself is high-end production. From a beautiful cover sleeve to the bright red cloth cover with a nicely stamped Chinese symbol on the cover, to nicely ornate end papers and high-gloss paper for the main story, it seems no expense was denied in making the book itself.
In conclusion, there is little machination here: only petty criminality. There is little betrayal here: only inexplicable and weakly capricious turnings away. There is little magic here: only a kid with a book of evil magic and a decapitated chicken head. There is little of the human element that has defined Powell oeuvre up to this point. Perhaps the only character that arouses in emotion is Franky whose biggest moment in the book is quoting The Goon's words from Issue #3: "What about me?!!! I ain't got nothin'!" It turns out that The Goon just really doesn't care. At least not until he's burned up in the hospital and wrapped up like a mummy and needs someone to change his feeding tube. The line "pals stick" just doesn't. This book is getting rave reviews elsewhere, but, in my opinion, Chinatown hardly satisfies its buildup.
Lives up to expectations
The most interesting thing about Eric Powell's _Goon_ series is that every volume manages to explore new territory, happily mish-mashing genres and tones together into a rolling zombie horror gangster comedy surprise. The one thing he hadn't tried -- up until now -- was a straight up serious character drama without any of the trademark off-the-wall humor that's made the series such a success. Even the darker, more horror-laden and psychology-wrought tales, like "The Vampire Dame Had to Die," had extensive comic interludes. Adding to the challenge is that woven throughout prior volumes of the series, there have been on-and-off references to "Chinatown," all generally of the "at least that wasn't as bad as Chinatown" / "Don't even bring up Chinatown" variety.
So in telling the story of "Chinatown," Mr. Powell faced a dual challenge: he had to tell a straight-up dramatic story without the zany comedy that has been the series hallmark, and that story had to live up to six volume's worth of foreshadowing.
The challenge is met and exceeded. "Chinatown" lives up to the billing set for it in prior comics, and functions on its own, dramatically, as an exploration of Goon's bitter, driven personality. This is a must-read volume for any fan of the series.
