Image credit: Valiant/Acclaim
Acclaim’s first original series after acquiring Valiant in the mid-’90s, Troublemakers was a pretty good run, especially considering the ’90s aren’t remembered very fondly for strongly character-driven comics.
The Troublemakers weren’t afraid to touch on some pretty controversial topics, like teenage sex and terminal illness in childhood. Issue #12 brings up the topic of gun violence, but rather shockingly, one of the team of super-powered teenage heroes dies before the first page even begins.
Then there will be an investigation into what exactly happened, who was responsible, and why. The police interrogation is a bit clunky, the art makes it a little hard to follow the sequence of events, and it feels like things don’t quite come together until the end, with the truth conveniently coming out (most of the time). The exaggerated, cartoonish artwork used in this series also doesn’t ideally fit the subject matter.
Still, given how politically charged gun violence in the United States can be, author Fabian Nicieza deserves praise for trying to tackle the issue. It’s really unfortunate that we lost such a troublemaker so senselessly and suddenly, but I think that’s part of the point in the end.
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