Vigilante #1-3

Vigilante #1-3

Originally released in 1983

Written by Marv Wolfman

Art by Keith Pollard

These days, it feels like if a series isn't an immediate hit, it gets cancelled after twelve issues at the latest, or sometimes within four or five.  In contrast, Vigilante (a fairly minor character by my understanding) had a series that lasted fifty issues and three separate annuals, which seems insane by modern standards. I'm guessing that, in the 80s or 90s, there was a solo series with an extremely minor X-Men character who had something similar, but even that's the case, they'd be tied to a major or popular series whereas Vigilante decidedly isn't. (I recall he made a brief cameo in Teen Titans, and I know Teen Titans was huge at the time, but that's still not much)

Vigilante seems like a darker take on Daredevil. Whereas Daredevil struggles to balance his life as a lawyer and his superheroics, questioning if he's doing the right thing by working outside of the system, Vigilante was once a lawyer named Adrian Chase who currently works outside of the system and has a warrant out for his arrest as Vigilante.  His wife and children were killed, and he was declared clinically dead for seven minutes; when he recovered, he gave up his life as a lawyer and set out to target people who managed to cheat the system somehow. (though I'm not ruling out some sort of brain damage; he seems dangerously impulsive at times)

Vigilante seems similar to the Punisher in a lot of ways, to the point where he seems like DC's attempt at making their own version of the character.  Both are motivated to kill criminals by the death of their families, to the point where they come into conflict with other heroes because of their zeal.  The Punisher seems more unstable and hypocritical, but Vigilante sets impossible standards for himself that nobody can hope to reach, demanding what feels like absolute perfection.

Vigilante has two allies in his war on crime - J.J. Davis, his tech guy, and Theresa Gomez, who provides him with intel.  They're concerned for Chase's well-being, though they prefer their life of helping out Vigilante to anything ordinary.  They work well at providing a more grounded perspective compared to Adrian declaring his efforts as being part of a "holy vow", but they're somewhat forgettable.

The third issue brings over Cyborg from Wolfman's Teen Titans series, who's protecting a criminal named William Stryker (no relation to the bigoted preacher from the X-Men story God Loves, Man Kills with the same name) because he swore to bring him to justice (of a sort - Stryker deserves the death penalty, and yet he's getting one year in jail for possessing an unregistered handgun).  Stryker isn't exactly doing a great job at convincing Cyborg to keep protecting him, to the point where it seems like Stryker actively wants to die.

Cyborg manages to get through to Vigilante somewhat, and unlike the Punisher, Vigilante grows to see more of a value in life, even if the criminal justice system does seem massively flawed at times.  As an introduction goes, this is okay, though I have trouble seeing how it lasted so long when so many other series get cancelled abruptly.  Maybe I just don't get the vigilante justice craze of the era; it might be specific to a certain time and place. (I know that 80s New York was rough, though I haven't looked into it too deeply and don't know the full extent of the problems)