Matt Kindt's Superspy

Superspy is a collection of related stories about spies of various European powers during the Second World War. The focus is on character; the missions live in the background. Like others, I'm not quite sure what to think about this comic. One the one hand, it has ambition leaking out its spine. On the other hand, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

Let's begin with the artwork. The above example demonstrates clearly that this woman's dance is a coded message--the only way her hair is forming the words is through movement. I am fond of the expressionism at the heart of such images. Moreover, this artistic choice sells what is, to me, the main point of the book: being a successful spy is all about being a master storyteller, because a master storyteller creates suspension of disbelief.

I'm not ready to call Kindt a master storyteller, however. As one might imagine, there's a lot of confusion and double crossing in a series of stories about spies. Kindt organizes the stories in not-quite chronological order, and characters who appear in multiple stories often undergo vast cosmetic alterations. I like puzzles, but puzzles need to be compelling--not all puzzles are, by virtue of being puzzles, all that interesting. I'm just not invested. Here's a question: what makes a puzzle interesting? What is the rhetoric of a successful puzzle? Why do some people like some puzzles that other people don't? A lot of folks I know like figuring out all the little things in House of Leaves, for instance, but I can't be bothered.

I plan to have more on spies and spy-dom if I finish Legacy of Ashes.