A Trigger Warning is Needed for ‘American Carnage #1’ Review

Writer: Bryan Hill / Artist: Leandro Fernandez / DC Comics When DC announced the return of their Vertigo imprint for mature readers, it was clear in mind head that a series called American Carnage was going to be a difficult read in the political climate. With most of my experience with Hill lies in Wildstorm and Batman and the Outsiders, I was intrigued by this more grounded police procedural story. True to my preconceptions, the story was in fact challenging but Hill’s willingness to stare into the darkness of American extremism is laudable and the narrative is a well-researched, bleak look at “Real America.” Before we continue: this is a trigger warning for racial violence. This is very much a violent book.

American Carnage opens with Agent Sheeba Curry recounting an incident with Ross Johnston, a white criminal with priors, a wife, and children who slept with a literal Nazi blanket. Agent Curry was investigating the death of a fellow Agent Bernard Watson, who suffered a particularly brutal death. The connection between Johnston and Watson is in individual by the name of Wynn Allen Morgan, a person the FBI refuses to touch. The story then pivots to a flashback of the central protagonist, Richard Wright. There are three important things to note about Richard Wright: 1) The very first time we see him, he commits an utterly reprehensible act that will forever taint the reader’s perception of him, and the character’s own perception. 2) He very much looks like white. 3) He is…