Turn it up, that thing we all Comics Critics are gonna say, in my headphones, turn it up: “This ain’t your daddy’s Miami Vice.”
Yeah that, that sounds real good. Now gimme the 808 kickdrums.
“This ain’t your daddy’s Miami Vice.”
That’s what I’m talking about man, keep that low end bouncin’. Now gimme that sweet Moog squeal, you know how it’s gotta be!
“This ain’t your daddy’s Miami Vice.”
That’s the shit I’m talking about! It’s a hit!
[Plays over credits]
Lion Forge comics announced a partnership with NBC to release comics based on some of their beloved ’80s action series, and perhaps the only person not raising a family who got excited about it was yours truly. These shows, these adventures, these well-coiffed heroes holding their own against explosion and unshaven rivals are in my blood, and now they get to live again!
That’s why I thank the magic of reproduction for Joe Casey and Jim Mahfood.
Until I get hired to write the recognizable, image-licensed Miami Vice comic that you are all clamoring for, the only way to get the fix of mainline feel of the show is through the gnarly, tubular, don’t-yank-my-chain “Hey, watch it pal!” Casey x Mahfood crossover.
Crockett and Tubbs and Castillo don’t look like Johnson, Thomas or Edward James Olmos, and thank Grodd for that. Long are talented creators stifled by what the big kids will let them to do with the toybox, but in these 30 pages our boys act like a veritable comics Crockett and Tubbs, pushing and redlining everything oh-so-Eighties in a story so absurd and wonderful that the immediate reaction was to wonder why they never actually did it from 1984-1989. Miami Vice was a show that had cryogenic villainy as a major plot point and comics managed to out-comics that.
The elements plow through the fringes of recognition, but Casey’s talent for keeping his voice while finding his characters’ is as sharp and intact as ever- nothing feels dated or overplayed or tongue-in-cheek- he and Mahfood find the vein to feed off the straight-shooting demeanor of the show but pulse a goddamn hell of a life into it. There’s a fine, powdery line between pastiche and parody which Casey and Mahfood razor through with insane precision.
There’s been a long overdue surge in recognizing the importance of the colorist, and especially in light of Nathan Fairbairn’s illuminating process. A book like Miami Vice: Remix comes along at the right time to heap every ounce of grainy white rush of praise into Justin Stewart- trust, he’s cool- he can hang. His palette has the gorgeously eye-gouging sheen necessary to capture the essence without tracing the style- like catching a reflection in a glass table under a neon sign. The trinity of Casey, Mahfood and Stewart sublimate as the issue progresses, and one section when Crockett and Tubbs break kayfabe to be cops when they’re alone is jarring and refreshing as the scene shifts from the pinks and greens and aquas into ugly, business browns and blacks and back again as shit gets real.
This isn’t your daddy’s Miami Vice, it’s your cool older brother’s friend who took a liking to you’s Miami Vice– it’s raw, unflinching, unapologetic and I hope it sticks around until your wack-ass dad comes around on it too.
Miami Vice Remix is available now from IDW.
Rafael Gaitan was born in 1985, but he belongs to the ’70s. He is a big fan of onomatopoeia, being profane and spelling words right on the first try. Rafael has a burgeoning stand-up career and writes love letters to inanimate objects as well as tweets of whiskey and the mysteries of the heart at @bearsurprise. He ain’t got time to bleed.
Now if we can only figure out a way to get you and Djeljosevic writing about Baywatch: Nights again….