Enigma

Have I mentioned that I love comics?

Title: Enigma
Writer: Peter Milligan
Artist: Duncan Fegredo
Published: 1995 (as compilation) by Vertigo/DC Comics
Genre: Superheroes!
Pages: Doesn't say.

When it comes to superhero comics, you will want to read Moore's and Gibbons' Watchmen, and you will want to read Enigma.

"...Michael Smith is starting what he laughably thinks of as his 'day'... Tonight Michael will make love to his girlfriend, Sandra. He knows this because today is Tuesday. On Tuesdays he also wears the blue socks and the grey underwear and counts his bath towels. He has twenty-five bath towels. But how could anyone survive with less?"

As the story starts, the main character, Michael Smith, is a bit of a twat. But throw in some beyond odd comic book baddies, the required caped crusader and some flying lizards, and Michael shows that there's more to him than meets the eye. Not to mention his favourite childhood comics, which are apparently coming alive. But why now, some 19 years after being published? What does their creator think about it, beside wanting a drink? How is Michael tied to it all? And then what?

If I had to do a Top 10 list of my favourite comics, Enigma would be in the top five. The story is exquisite and will throw the reader more than one punch out of nowhere. It is told by a narrator who could probably cut people with his sharp tongue. The art is strong and stylish, complimented nicely by the colouring of Sherilyn van Valkenburgh. And it all started in Arizona. Twenty-five years ago. On a farm.

Enigma is definitely not your normal superhero book. Like Watchmen, it raises the question what people with extraordinary powers can, and will, do. But with less words. And more flying lizards.