Smokin’ Aces
by Joe Carnahan
ill. Antonio Vázquez, Luis Czerniawski & Enrique Lopez Lorenzana (IDW, 2007)
From this prequel tie-in we learn that Carnahan loves comics (he tells us) but doesn’t understand how to write a good one. The characters aren’t antiheroes, just irredeemable. The storylines are dark, violent and pointless and/or nonsensical. The tiny format doesn’t help.