Return to Perdition

Collins returns to his successful “Perdition” story line, as seen in the film and the graphic novel The Road to Perdition, accompanied by realistic black and white and gray-tone sketch art from his frequent collaborator and Eisner co-nominee Beatty. The legacy of gangster Michael O’Sullivan lives on through his grandson, Michael Satariano Jr., a Vietnam War hero enlisted into the Justice Department’s war on crime. As a sniper, Satariano targets high-ranking members in organized crime families, and is promised he will be able to avenge his murdered family. But even though he identifies as a soldier, he begins to doubt his role when he finds a good woman to love. Beatty’s art suggests greater detail in the imagination than the pencils and inks on the page, and his tone, in romance, sex, and violence, beautifully matches the emotional arc of the story. The graphic nature of both the story and the art captures a bleak but powerful tale of someone who doesn’t really want redemption. (Oct.)