Minor Threats is told from the perspective of career criminals who live in a world bursting at the seams with super heroes. The five protagonists of the first series are considered low-rung figures who enjoy little prestige among their fellow criminals. However, when a psychopath called Stickman murders the kid sidekick of the super hero Insomniac (basically a Batman expy), it results in a violent crackdown on super-criminals. The five protagonists decide to pool their resources and kill the Stickman in the hopes of stopping the crackdown.
I was skeptical about these comics, to be honest. It caught my attention because of Oswalt's name, but I also doubted whether it would be any good because when Hollywood personalities descend from their lofty heights to go slumming in the world of comics, it's usually because they want to fabricate a pitch for their next movie or TV series. The sort of comics they churn out tend to be very dull, very by-the-numbers, written down to a level where a film or TV executive can understand it.
But Minor Threats? This is a comic book! I mean, it does not look like a bunch of storyboards - there is action, speed lines, sound effects -- all those things movie people disdain.
I've seen Minor Threats compared to Astro City and I think the comparison holds. Because Oswalt's background is comedy I assumed this would be a fairly satirical comic, but it isn't. Instead, like Astro City, it visits familiar tropes from super hero comics but through a different lens - in this case, from the skewed perspective of life-long criminals.
This was a very pleasant surprise - about as violent and profanity-laden as a Robert Kirkman comic but still, a very good super hero comic with a well-realized world, well-written characters and a great plot. That's all I ask for.
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