4 out of 5

Comprising Kev, More Kev, The Magnificent Kev, and A Man Called Kev.

I often start out comic reviews (in my long, long history of doing comic reviews) by explaining that every author has a few “modes” they shift through.  Ennis isn’t any exception, of course, but what’s interesting about the guy is the way he shuttles aspects of his style in and out and around each other, like puzzle pieces.  Sometimes this creates something sloppy and sick, one end of the spectrum – like Dicks – and sometimes it’s terse and serious, like some of his Battlefields work.  For me, he has an ideal blend on his serious side (his Punisher Max series), and then an equally ideal blend on his silly side – which gets to come out during his Kev series, with old 2000 AD chums Glenn Fabry and Carlos Ezquerra.

Kev is a somewhat bumbling, normal chap ex-SAS or something or other superspy who gets embroiled in Authority business more often than not, and is hated by people like Midnighter.  The regular chap mixing with heroes gives Ennis his opportunity to poke fun at that whole genre, and Kev’s ties to war give Ennis space to wax on about foolish fighting and manliness.  A more “liberal” publisher like Wildstorm and the inherent limitations of being tied to someone else’s property are good limitations for Ennis, roped in from his inevitable excesses but given enough slack to go out on a limb.

But this can still produce funny but empty works, such as the Rifle Brigade stuff he’s done – totally worth a laugh, but the whole thing is a laugh, so it doesn’t really stick.  Kev is a bumbler but we like the guy, he’s so damn human, and the chaps he mixes with are of that lovely Ennis stock of fallible men… it’s just so surprising at times, and speaks to Garth’s skills as a writer, that in the midst of heroes in tights and oranges stuck in orifices, he can find concepts that wind their way through the jokes to be really affecting and, yeah, thoughtful.  All of the series taken together have some hiccups, of course, mostly with “The Magnificent,” which is built around a hilarious character before the story just sorta frazzles out.  Otherwise, if you’re floating beyond Garth’s core territory, his Kev collections are an excellent place to start.