Gone were all the men in tights, as well as the action sequences that Mazzucchelli rendered in his fluid, cinematic style. Instead, he took his art and his storytelling further into expressionism, crafting several memorable stories that stand out even in this decade of impressive talent. When we read Blind Date or Near Miss in the context of Mazzucchelli's career to date, it's no wonder Rob Liefeld's head blew off (or so the anecdote goes) after reading an issue of the series. It's hard to think of another cartoonist who had ignored so much mainstream promise (purportedly an offer to take over drawing the X-Men) in order to pursue his art this doggedly.
This isn't to say that Mazzucchelli entirely abandoned the superhero mythos. His most praised story from Rubber Blanket, Big Man, is essentially a very well-crafted Incredible Hulk story. His best work in Rubber Blanket is actually #2's Discovering America, a fantastic testament to the uprootedness of our times. The story, about a love-struck building custodian and his compulsion to graphically represent the changing world of the early 1990s, perfectly weds Mazzucchelli's think line, his ear for dialogue, his aforementioned cinematic eye. He even manages a great payoff, which is a rara avis for cartoonists nowadays. With this story leading a pack of inventive, visually challenging works, Mazzucchelli's stories easily stand among the top 100 of our age.
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