Masterpiece

Frequent collaborators Bendis (the Ultimate Spider-Man series) and Maleev (the Daredevil series) craft a labyrinthine revenge caper modeled after a Hollywood-style heist. A biracial teen girl named Masterpiece Lawford (she prefers “Emma”) gets kidnapped from her high school by plutocrat Zero Preston. Years ago, Emma’s parents stole two billion dollars from him in an Ocean’s Eleven–like escapade. Now Preston wants payback and orders Emma to kill his unrequited love, lifestyle guru Katie Roots (a thinly disguised Martha Stewart). Emma’s a sarcastic web cartoonist on a skateboard, yet she remains curiously dull as a protagonist. The dialogue is glib and smart-alecky, trademark Bendis but interchangeable among speakers. Luckily, Maleev’s fabulous photorealistic art provides distinctive and emotive features to distinguish what are mostly talking head sequences. Bendis’s narrative unfolds languidly for most of the volume, then abruptly reaches a conclusion involving virtual reality and brain hacking. For Bendis regulars, the results will be satisfying but unsurprising. (Dec.)