Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset

by Rick Veitch, Frank Cho (Illustrator), David Lloyd (Illustrator)

The best of buddies since childhood, troublemakers Franky Lafayette and Johnny Apollo decide to turn their friendship into a partnership as they take over the rackets in Indigo City. But when this criminal alliance ends, Johnny turns his back on Franky and a life of crime and becomes the mysterious hero Greyshirt. Complemented by authentic Indigo Sunset newspaper installments, this book shows how friends and demons from the past can create and haunt a person's future.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Comic Book

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Richard "Rick" Veitch is an American comics artist and writer who has worked in mainstream, underground, and alternative comics.

Reviews

[Alex Sarll]

Rick Veitch continues the homage to Eisner's Spirit which he co-created with Alan Moore, keeping the same sense of formal playfulness and willingness to experiment. But he also takes the opportunity of a larger canvas than the Tomorrow Stories anthology afforded to gradually tie all the strands together, building an origin story for the masked vigilante and his neo-noir hometown of Indigo City which come together in a present day payoff. It wouldn't be right to call it a solo outing, mind - Veitch is joined by guests as impressive as John Severin, David Lloyd and Frank Cho on art (plus Dave Gibbons, who sadly scripts but does not draw, which always seems a terrible waste). As an added bonus, Veitch would seem to be the only man on Earth who hates hack photocopier and charlatan Roy Lichtenstein even more than I do, and finds entertaining ways to integrate that loathing into the story. If I have a complaint, it regards the faux-newspaper sections which serve as backmatter; they do a good job of building an even more thorough sense of Indigo as a living city, foreshadowing coming developments and providing connective tissue that can thus be left out of the comics themselves. And the spoof newspaper cartoons are a delight. But the news articles, as is so often the case when fiction attempts this trick, read like no newspaper on Earth. How do people get to be professional writers without ever apparently having read a newspaper, or being able to pastiche the fairly easy style if they have?

[Joni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excelente tomo de punta a punta avanzando en el tiempo haciendo gala de las infinitas posibilidades de mezclar dibujo y narración, una pequeña mini joya casi desapercibida.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little hesitant going into this volume, having just finished all of Alan Moore's Tomorrow Stories, in which Greyshirt makes his debut. The entire approach to Greyshirt was to present him as an unassailable, distant figure, whose presence is more felt than seen. The Greyshirt stories in that book were some of my favorites, as well, with Rick Veitch utilizing a lot of very unique, creative narrative techniques to set those stories apart from typical hardboiled comics fare.

So, the idea of taking that far-away, intentionally under-developed character and giving him his own six-issue series seemed dubious. I barely even knew who Greyshirt was. Why give him his own series?

Well, I'm not quite sure how I feel after the fact, either. Veitch took the whole idea of this unknowable figure and really leaned into it. This volume serves as an elaborate origin story for Greyshirt, delving into the weirdness of Indigo City and the events that led him to become the titular hero (well, kinda). Veitch's narrative creativity and love of switching formats and genres is proudly on display here, with each issue having its own unique feel, accompanied by a fully-written, 8-page Indigo City "newspaper" at the end of each issue to further explore the world.

A ton about this works. I was constantly impressed with the artwork and surprised by the endless flow of ideas. There's some great tension at times, as well, and out-there storytelling that feels fresh despite how inherently derivative this Spirit-inspired series is.

But, I have to say, Veitch never quite nails Johnny, the mobster who is destined to become Greyshirt. Throughout the story, Johnny is completely agency-free, with events simply happening to him and around him. He barely even reacts to them as much as he's just present for them, and as such, the story fails to really ever sell exactly what about this guy makes him a hero. By the end, he has simply chosen to be a hero for no real reason other than it seems like the right thing to do. We never see him struggle with the decision or wonder about how else his life could have gone. He's just kind of... there. This means the central character of the story is the one you care about the least. I was far more interested in the supporting cast, even though a lot of them were broad caricatures I've seen a hundred times.

It's unfortunate. If Veitch could've just landed on a compelling drive for Johnny, this could've been a real home run. I found myself skipping over sections (particularly the interminable newspaper stuff) more and more as I worked my way through this, just kind of wanting it to be over.

All in all, this is worth checking out if you're a fan of Tomorrow Stories, but otherwise I'd skip it. It's just a little too much style over substance.

[Mark Schlatter · Rating 2 out of 5]

When Alan Moore was developing his America's Best Comics, he and Rick Veitch created Greyshirt, an analogue of Will Einser's The Spirit. This collection is written by Veitch alone and focuses on the origins of Greyshirt (with art by Veitch) and other assorted stories (illustrated by different artists). There is some of the interesting experimentation that Eisner showed in The Spirit and that Moore and Veitch carried on in their stories (e.g., the page that walks us down a staircase panel by panel and landing by landing, the use of kid's comics art styles when we look at the young Greyshirt, the use of newspaper strip comics to communication information, the fact that every cover refers to a tale that is covered in text pages and not the main story). However, Veitch's prose gets way too florid at times, and the plot circles around a strange creature called the Lure that isn't that interesting. Veitch has used the eerie to drive the story and examine the characters before (most notably in The One), but here it falls flat.

I reread this to see if it's staying in my collection --- it isn't.

[Brian Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Veitch had co-created the titular character with Alan Moore, and this series gives Veitch a chance to really flesh Greyshirt out on his own, and he's exceptionally good at it. The main story over the six chapters is the origin story of our hero rolling into the present, with flashbacks and tying the supporting cast that turned up in the Tomorrow Stories features to the longer history of Greyshirt. In between these are Tomorrow-Stories-esque tales that follow the view of Greyshirt as being in the mold of the Spirit even as the main through line is a crime family drama. This is capped off with text pieces in the back, articles from the Indigo Sunset newspaper that give the backstory to the cover image of the issue, as well as more commentary and angles on the main book. All told it's nicely intricate and twisty.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Veitch is the writer of all and artist of half, and he tries to create a cohesive narrative for all Greyshirt stories in a way that wasn't really needed or asked for. Some parts work better than others, and it's a very mixed bag.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very funny items, some very serious. It goes to both extremes

[Aquanaten · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the greatest comics I have never seen anyone talking about. Rick Veitch packed SO MUCH content into each issue that it's actually ridiculous.

First of all, if you're a fan of Alan Moore's ABC shared universe and/or Tomorrow Stories, read this. Out of all the ABC comics I've read, this is the one that prides itself the most in being part of the America's Best universe.
It is choked full of references to names and locations from other ABC series and calls back to pretty much every single Greyshirt segment in Tomorrow Stories.

To the Promethea fans: more Weeping Gorilla Comix!

I was kind of hesitant getting into this comic because it didn't sound particularly engaging. A longer version of the Greyshirt origin we already saw in Tomorrow Stories? Why?
Well, turns out Rick Veitch had a lot of interesting plots to explore and a Greyshirt solo series was the place to do it. This isn't just Greyshirt's origin; every issue features bits of Greyshirt's origin, plus new stories set in the present day after the final issue of TS.

The "Indigo Sunset" of the title doesn't refer to the time of day in the city, it's the name of the fictional local newspaper. Each issue in the series features entire sections of the paper, where Veitch really gets to show off his writing chops. The news recounting Greyshirt adventures are mostly standard pulp with a few satyrical elements thrown in, but it's in the tabloid fluff that Veitch shines. This series is FUNNY.
Not only does Veitch write amazingly absurd takes on celebrity gossip and anonymous "sentimental advice" letter columns, but he created an entire slew of in-universe comic strips that are published in the Indigo Sunset. The one about the talking clam is pretty mediocre (which may be on purpose) and the gangster strip obviously can't amount to much since we are only seeing small snippets of what are supposedly ongoing story arcs, but everything else is a blast. I assume the rubber duck thing is actually written and drawn by Alan Moore himself, maybe even the Weeping Gorilla Comix too.

The main plot regarding Greyshirt's backstory ends up feeling like the lesser part of such a packed comic, but it is by no means a failure. There are some really interesting elements introduced by Veitch, the central one being the strange "Lure" entity.
The presence of The Lure adds a whole new level of mystery and wonder to Greyshirt's past, changing it from simple crime noir to an almost dreamlike surreal narrative.

If there is one flaw to point at "Indigo Sunset", it is that the ending doesn't live up to the quality of the set-up, writing wise. Lafayette's transformation into a science hero feels like an afterthought, even after several issues of build-up, and his "partner" Rocky remains completely unexplored. Considering the implications of the haunting, almost magical presence of Cobweb and The Lure in Indigo City, it really seems like their relationship with Rocky, Greyshirt, or both, could have had much greater significance.

Still, if you're looking for some high-quality, slightly experimental comics, I highly recommend this.

[Centauri · Rating 5 out of 5]

it is the 80s and criminals are looking to the past for inspirational-theme, thus, gangsters are reborn. corruption fear and greed run the streets of indigo city when one gangster finds reason to join the other side: science heroes. now, acting as a vigilante approved by the city mayor, the protagonist is doing all they can to undo the lifestyle that is favored and idolized, but his best friend is in the way...
that concept alone made this a good read. what made it great was the delivery. i loved the intermissions between each comic story: indigo city newspaper headlines, the ask the doc columns, ridiculous ads, and even comic strips. what makes it even better is the fact the all the ads headlines and columns were interwoven into the story arc

pick it up and enjoy!

[Travis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uneven and slightly surreal attempt at a character that is a clone/homage/ rip-off/take your pick of Will Eisner's Spirit.

Like the hero's design, it's a very cool, pulp influenced look, and there are some decent stories, but it all gives you the impression of somebody trying too hard to be clever and ends up feeling a bit unsatisfying.

[Neven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really clever stuff, really well done. Can be read in small installments, but it definitely builds up to a larger story.

[Charles Gory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stylish, cool, Greyshirt was an excellent part of America's Best. this story is a perfect example

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 really