Bad Thoughts #1
Creative Team
writers: ANDE PARKS
artist: DAVE WACHTER
colorist: BRAD SIMPSON
letterer: ANDWORLD DESIGN
publisher: IGNITION PRESS
Have you ever thought to yourself, “I wish I knew what they were thinking”. You would think that the ability to read a mind would be extraordinary – it would be so useful in everyday life, right? You would know exactly what everybody thought of you, how they felt about those around them. But what happens when you hear the bad, the ugly, what would you do then?
This is the question writer Ande Parks has posed with his new work Bad Thoughts, in a unique twist on the evergreen super-power of mind reading, Parks has our protagonist, Jack Coates, able to read a person's intentions through their thoughts, but seemingly only negative ones.
His ability has its uses, he works for a paramilitary group and in this first issue is tasked with covertly stopping a group of armed white supremacist after they take over an IRS facility by force. But, it comes with a cost, Jack can barely enjoy an evening out with his wife without having to listen to the words unspoken. Racist remarks, domestic disputes, even outright murder plans force him to put dinner on hold and deal with them.
You would be forgiven for seeing this comic as an exercise in machismo, but pay enough attention and the smaller details make themselves known. We’re told that Jack can block out the sounds of others' thoughts by wearing speciailised earbuds, but he won’t be able to hear his wife if he does. A clever detail from Parks, Jack can hear his loved one, but has to suffer the malicious thoughts of the world around him to do so.
Racism is a major theme at play in Bad Thoughts, both subtle and overt. The very first thought Jack hears as we’re introduced to him is, “Send every damn one of them back where they belong”. A sentiment so common to him that he doesn’t even pay attention to it “it’s nothing I can’t handle”.
It’s interesting to note that Parkes first displays the themes of racism in a higher-end restaurant, a place frequented by the business class, who mostly keep these thoughts locked away, and contrasts it later in the book, with much more open hostility from the more blue collar, white supremacist gang.
Parkes acknowledges that racism has no boundaries, education or class matter little, it persists in all places and Jack, like any minority, is acutely tapped into it. Bad Thoughts is a thorough exploration of the many faces racism takes on, we later watch as those white supremacists are executed, naked and afraid, and it’s hard to feel like the wrong decision was made, where does the line get drawn?
I’d be remiss to not bring up Dave Wachter's artwork. It is a perfect fit for Parkes writing, early on, Jack delivers a back-alley beatdown directly to the face of a not so classy businessman and you really feel every moment of it. Wachter finds a way to portray Jack's every emotion, he goes from disgusted, to filled with rage, to icy cold in three panels. Wachter knows how to bring a character to life on the page, and his action scenes are methodical, leaving room for the quieter moments of the book.
Final Verdict
What we have here in Bad Thoughts is a comic that demands a second look, it asks us to confront realities that lie dormant in many peoples mind, its a straight forward story that doesn’t look to subtext to confront the world around us, instead, looking it bare in the face asks us: What are you going to do when the bad thoughts take over?
| Criteria | Score |
|---|---|
| Writing | 8 |
| Story/Plot | 7 |
| Art/Line Work | 7 |
| Colors | 7 |
| Final Score | 7.5/10 |
