Graphic Novel Review: Masterpiece by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev
Posted on October 31, 2024 at 6:04 am by Gene Ambaum
Masterpiece by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev. Dark Horse, 2024. 9781506730493. 175pp including a cover gallery and some sketchbook pages by Maleev.
Masterpiece Lawford is arrested by “FBI agents” during class in front of her high school classmates. Turns out the agents are goons in the employ of a rich a-hole who just discovered she exists, and who still wants revenge on her parents for what they stole from him fifteen years ago, and despite the fact that everyone is pretty sure they’re dead. He wants Masterpiece to hit a wealthy target of his choosing just as hard as her parents hit him. Masterpiece decides to bring them both down, since the target seems like an awful person, too.
On her side is the person who raised her, plus a really good friend who wants to help, and maybe The Paragon, a masked vigilante known for beating the crap out of famous bad people. And that’s is just the beginning of Masterpiece’s crew.
Bendis and Maleev created my favorite run of Marvel’s Daredevil, and I loved their Scarlet and Spider-Woman books too. This graphic novel feels like the love child of my three favorite heist movies: Ocean’s Eleven, David Mamet’s Heist, and 1992’s Sneakers. It’s fun, it has a brilliant teenage protagonist, and the twists and turns are fun. (And for some reason it has me mourning River Phoenix’s death all over again.)
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