After several years on hiatus, writer Erica Schultz (Swords of Sorrow) and artist Vicente Alcázar (Jonah Hex) have returned to continue their series, M3. M3 Volume Two is an interesting paternity tale that delves into the life of the eponymous M3, Machiavella Maria Marcona, her adopted family, and the mysteries of the family she never got to know.

If you’re new to M3, you should know going forward that she was dubbed M3 by her ally Agent Morris due to having three M names, but actually those that know her call her Vella. Volume one established that when her parents were killed, Vella was pitied and adopted by their hit man, and learned the trade of an assassin herself, an interesting premise that answers the question “what if Joe Chill adopted Bruce Wayne?” In volume two, Vella discovers she has a twin, and both of them are in the gunsights of killers hired by another relative unknown to her. In order to save the life of her sister and Agent Morris, as well as her own, Vella must uncover the truth of her past and try to survive the consequences.

While reading the first chapter, there is a sense of something missing from Volume Two.  The cloak and dagger element of the first volume of M3 has been supplanted by Vella’s family drama.  Agent Morris is an FBI agent in name only as he serves as Vella’s sidekick when she climbs her family tree.  As the story continues, though, it becomes apparent that while something that worked has been tossed out, it has been replaced by something else that works.  The family drama of volume two becomes more engrossing than the fairly pedestrian spy story of the first volume, which was basically just two fat cats in the bureau using Vella to bump off whoever they wanted.

As it turns out, Volume Two is the stronger of the two volumes of M3, and might even work better as a standalone graphic novel, as any reader without knowledge of the first book wouldn’t have the lingering sense that it just isn’t right for Agent Morris to be so chummy with the person that killed his dad (Vella, as revealed in Volume 1). Knowledge of that event also strains credulity when Morris starts to develop an attraction to Vella’s identical twin in Volume 2. It seems highly doubtful that a person would get the hots for someone that bore the likeness of their parent’s murderer, and Vella’s explanation would make no difference, as explanations and justifications are not known for their aphrodisiac effect. It seems telling that no mention of her killing the senior Morris is made in the second volume, and what has been salvaged from the first installment is the story of a former assassin and her FBI handler. Rather than going further into Morris’ character, the story retreats from his back story and digs deeper into Vella. Likewise, If M3 is being looked at for translation to another medium, Vella killing Agent Morris’ dad will be the first thing on the chopping block.

That the creators are thinking of this graphic novel in terms of its ability to translate to the theater or television is apparent in that the likenesses of living film and TV stars staring up at me from Vicente Alcázar’s panels. As I have missed SyFy’s Eureka since its cancellation, it has been refreshing to see Erica Cerra again, in a manner of speaking, as the lead character (and her twin) was modeled after her, to the point that many of these panels look like screen captures of or publicity stills for the actress.

Hello, Deputy Jo!

image image image image image image imageimage image image

Other characters are modeled after different celebrities, with the most recognizable being John Cho.

image image

The effect of real actors’ heads bobbing up in the narrative is to take the narrative out of the mundane and mere photorealism and to uplift it into cinematic realism, so that at the end of the story the reader has the experience not of having read, but of having watched, this story.

This effect is more powerful when it is deliberate than when it is not.  There are occasional moments that the panels double dip in the stock photo reservoir, for instance these scenes ninety-seven pages apart in chapter one and chapter four, in which Vella’s head shot is identical:

imageimage

 

Sometimes the doubling of imagery is deliberately done, for poetic effect, but the above is not one of those instances.  An example of the poetic doubling is in a three page sequence in chapter two:

imageimageimage 

I’ve reproduced the double image panels from pages 45 and 47, and 46 in its entirety so you can see the effect that results from centering the page on Vella’s eyes.  Through allowing the image to repeat on three pages, it makes Vella’s stare a more lasting phenomenon that is more likely to attract the reader’s attention.  This is a great example of an artist using repetition to alter a reader’s perception of time.  And so in these two examples you can see the effects, both bad and good, that can result from relying on stock imagery.  When it’s done accidentally, the characters become as flat as cardboard to an attentive reader, and when it’s done deliberately it can make a moment or a gesture have more duration, and seize the reader’s attention.

M3 Volume 2 is an entertaining read, though, with an easy to follow plot that moves briskly, and, for the most part, strong visual storytelling that gives a home theater effect to the story.  Like an over-long thriller, occasionally imagery is recycled, deliberately and not, and when this happens accidentally it gives a sense of monotony and pointlessness to those shots, but fortunately these moments are few enough that reading M3 remains a fast and overall pleasant experience.  Fans of spy comics like Velvet, Grayson, and Jon Sable that were attracted to the first volume of M3 may find the story is going in new territory, but those that trust the creators will find that the decision was good, the direction is fresh, and the execution decently done.