Somewhere in the hinterland between the DC Universe and Vertigo, there are books like Cinnamon.  Not a mature readers title, this, but it has more in common with the Vertigo line than it does with most of the DCU.  That's probably just a symptom of genre; there's still a tendency to assume that anything which isn't a superhero comic must be, by default, a Bit Arty and therefore belongs in Vertigo.

Writer Jen Van Meter also wrote the cult Oni series Hopeless Savages, but this is a definite change of pace.  Cinnamon is an American woman working as a hired gun in Mexico, and as one of the characters points out, she seems to have settled into a kind of Clint Eastwood role over the years.  However, her attempts to impose some kind of moral standards on her work are undercut by the fact that her background deprives her of much authority on the subject.

The set up is for a story on the eternal theme of the inescapability of the past.  Cinnamon has, presumably, been hiding out down in Mexico for years as a result of the revenge killing she carried out some time ago.  She's never entirely been able to shake it off and, as you might expect, it's now about to catch up with her.  Being the reformed character that she is, instead of trying to run further, Cinnamon accepts that the game is up and prepares herself to deal with things at last.

In genre terms, I suppose this hovers somewhere between a crime story and a modern-day western.  I've never really been much of a western fan; that whole narrative of the American frontier doesn't particularly engage me.  Coming at it more from the crime perspective, though, I enjoyed this - at it's core, it's a good strong story on a classic theme.  Can't say fairer than that.

Oh, and a great cover by Howard Chaykin, incidentally.  The interior art by Francisco Paronzini and Robert Campanella isn't quite as striking, and sometimes errs a little too much in favour of clutter, especially on the early pages.  But they do give Cinnamon the right mix of obvious western influences without trapping her too much in the past, and (questionable pink dress aside) the flashback sequences are very strong.

Pretty good.

Rating: B+

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