It would be easy to call Doctor Leviathan amateurish….The art is crudely rendered, the story is both non-existent and incredibly busy at the same time, and we don’t even get a proper glimpse at the hero of the piece until the very end of the book, and even then, his identity, motivation, and powers remain a mystery. But there’s something at work here that makes it hard to tear down the bizarre house of cards that Writer/Artist/Publisher (and Letterer too, if my assumption is correct) James Matthew Banks, Jr. has constructed…An…exuberance…? An old-fashioned “Hey, kids! Let’s put on a show!” vibe that’s very familiar to this reader. As a comic-book fan since the age of two, I have vivid memories of spending hours at the kitchen table when I was in grade school, toiling over comics featuring characters from Marvel and DC mixing with new ones of my own creation, making up page after page as I went along, and sharing the one-of-a-kind creations with fellow enthusiasts at lunch the next day. All of our home-made treasures had the same “Cram it all in” feel as Doctor Leviathan…..
The first issue starts off right in the thick of things, as a room full of villains (Literally a ROOM FULL OF VILLAINS….seemingly dozens upon dozens of grotesques resembling Cenobites crossed with Dick Tracy’s Rogue’s Gallery are crammed in a featureless room- the crude art doesn’t include any backgrounds at all-) surrounding a little girl.that’s been kidnapped by their boss, Siege. Her Father is the Judge that sentenced some of Siege’s lackeys to death, and Siege intends to let his minions tear her to shreds as her horrified Father watches. As the girl is eaten alive by one of the baddies, she transforms into Doctor Leviathan, who proceeds to tear the holy hell out of everyone in the room, wreaking crude, hard-to-follow havoc on all assembled, kicking ass and not taking names, just killing, maiming, and making it a bad day to be a bad guy. The book ends with the REAL little girl safe and sound, thanks to the good Doc, every single baddie dead (In some truly gruesome, yet innovative, ways…), and the reader scratching his or her head in dumbstruck amazement.
To be sure, Doctor Leviathan is crude. I’d go so far as calling it bad, but in a good way….an Ed Wood kind of way. The book is rounded out by a short essay written by Banks, and it’s hard to judge the book harshly after reading his love letter to comics, how they carried him through some bad times in his life, and how he hopes his creations may help someone deal with pain in their life, or just help them to forget their troubles for a few minutes. On that count, Doctor Leviathan succeeded wildly. For 15 minutes, I was there, slack-jawed., wondering who these people were and what was going on, but it was a fun 15 minutes, and for that, James Matthew Banks, Jr., I thank you.
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