Crime Alley - Family Man!

Family Man by Jerone Charyn and Joe Staton was published by DC Comics under their Paradox Mystery label back in the 90's. Paradox produced only four stories total in twelve digest-sized installments. The only one I was much interested in was  Family Man and that was because of the artwork of Joe Staton, the co-creator of E-Man and one of my all-time favorite artists. In this noir tale Joe gets to stretch his artistic muscles and offer up some gritty black and white artwork, which nonetheless has his lively style while straying far from his more warm and friendly work on things like Justice Society of America and Scooby Doo. 

Family Man is set "one hour in the future" and imagines a NYC which is overcome by crime and corruption. In fact in this story the mob is marginally more reliable than the city police force. This is the tale of two brothers, one named Alonzo who is a fearsome hitman for the Mafia, specifically the Furisoso family. His brother Charles is known throughout the city as a police chaplain and bounty hunter dubbed Monsignor. He wields enormous power and his motives are somewhat shadowy though he appears to be using former police officers to round up street gangs and collect them in the abandoned Yankee Stadium. There is also the mystery of who killed Alonzo's wife and children. 

The mobs are broken by and large as this story opens with only Don Furioso still breathing and in his case it just by a bit. Only the strength and menace of Alonzo seems to give enemies of the Mafia pause and he survives several attacks in this story which as grim as can be. There's the obligatory hooker with a heart of gold too, who seems to have feelings for both of the brothers. Mix in a corrupt police chief, a cowardly mayor, and some weird super-rich siblings who have their claws in everything as well as one another and you have a dire brew indeed. 

Jerome Charyn is apparently a well regarded author, but while that might well be the case, my recommendation for this book is because of the outstanding Staton artwork. This book is from Drew Ford's It's Alive outfit, and while I personally have some outstanding issues with Drew, I won't let it get in the way of pointing out a quick but compelling read. 

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