Vertigo Pop! Bangkok

(Vertigo, 2003)
™ and © DC Comics, Inc.

The third installment (after London and Tokyo) in the Vertigo Pop! series, Bangkok #1 explores the titular city’s seamier side (this is Vertigo, after all), focusing on an oddly argumentative, thoroughly unlikable couple on vacation and a pair of sleazy con artists taking advantage of Bangkok’s under-age sex trade.

The team of Vankin, Camuncoli, and Shawn Martinbrough (inks) capture the city in a dirty and unflattering — yet realistic — light, and the only sympathetic characters are a pair of underage prostitutes forced to work the streets to pay off a family debt.

There’s plenty going on, but the story is easy to follow (unlike Tokyo), the characters are interesting (if disgusting), and there’s no telling where things are going from here. Vertigo Pop! Bangkok #1 gives plenty of bang for the buck, especially for readers who don’t mind (or even enjoy) a little (make that a lot of) sleaze.

— Brett Weiss

Jump to issue:

Notes

Writer

Artist