The Executor

THE EXECUTOR is the story of Joseph, a retired pro athlete, who returns to his hometown in upstate New York when he's named executor of his high-school sweetheart's will. In a search to find out what really happened to Miriam following her mysterious death, Joseph is confronted with his own illicit past and the possibility that the two are connected.

Joe Ullen, once an NHL enforcer and now a sullen and unwilling retiree, learns that Miriam, his high school sweetheart, is dead. Named as her executor, Joe returns to his former hometown, Elora, N.Y., an economically depressed, institutionally racist community. Armed more with stubborn determination and indifference to personal risk and injury than brilliance or keen observation, Joe begins to uncover the events leading up to Miriam's supposed accident. In a corrupt, dying town populated almost entirely by villains and victims, Joe brings to bear his personal and unacknowledged experience with the dark side of human nature. Italian artist Mutti's black and white art complements the bleak shades-of-dark-gray world Evans has created. Evans never misses an opportunity for grimness, from the nature of the long-running series of crimes hiding in Elora's shadows to the awful secret Joe shared with Miriam. Aside from those who appear just long enough to be victims, the characters are morally compromised at best and many are monsters; one almost expects to see Elora swept away in a rain of fire in the manner of Sodom and Gomorrah.
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Joe Ullen thought he had gotten out of Elohra, New York, leaving behind the small-town drama and his own dark secrets for a career in the NHL. He’s dragged back to his roots, though, when his high-school girlfriend is murdered and names him as the executor of her estate. Following clues she left behind, Joe is drawn into the bigger mystery surrounding the town and the neighboring native reservation. While the story and the art are a bit rough, they fit with the gritty modern noir style. Joe is a compelling character, and there is palpable sense of underlying tension throughout the story. --Tina Coleman