As the success of Gran Torino indicates, we love stories about hard-edged, old timers fending off thugs and then bitching about them wearing their pants too low. Take a Walt Kowalski character-type, a tough, old fashioned, Korean War vet, and drop him in the middle of a mob-action story and you will have a feel for Christos Gage‘s awesome graphic novel, Sunset.

Gage’s story of revenge and redemption pulls no punches. Its script is as violent as it is politically incorrect “” and in many ways, right on target. The main character, Nick Bellamy, never passes up an opportunity to comment on the softening of the modern generation. Their iPhones, their Prius, their kids’ scoreless soccer games: every topic is fair game. Nick also never leaves a challenge unchecked. As a former enforcer for mob boss Mr. Gianelli, Nick can still easily wipe out a small gang of common thugs like a septuagenarian Batman.

Christos Gage has written comics such as Deadshot, Absolution, Avengers: The Initiative, and X-Men Legacy. I recently had the change to discuss Gage’s latest comic, Sunset, with him.

Each and every week “Going Solor” MK2Fac3 and “Henchman Isn’t Here Anymore Mrs. Torrence” Henchman21 read a lot of comics. Seriously you guys, a lot of comics. Maybe too many comics. I mean, it is possible”¦ theoretically. They look forward to some more than others, I mean, who doesn’t? So, let’s take a look into the depths of their pull lists, grab some comics, and we’ll let YOU know what the top books to look forward to are for the week of July 18, 2012. Single issues and trades, they’re all here.

Look guys, we all know that comic books are totally awesome. That’s the whole reason why we put out this here GoD List every single week. There’s always a lot of stuff to look forward to, and sometimes we can’t get it all together. This week, though, my mind is completely on The Dark Knight Rises, and I’m sure you feel the same. However, we want you to read comics, so it’s time to put TDKR on the back burner for just a moment, and then we’ll move on to more Batman talk later in the day. You ready to do this? I’m ready to do this. Henchman isn’t here this week, so let’s get to it!

Sunset
Written by Christos Gage
Art by Jorge Lucas
Image Comics/Top Cow Productions, Inc.
Release Date: July 18, 2012
Cover Price: $19.99

It’s fashionable to romanticize the street-wise, toughness of old-timers who fought in WWII or the Korean War. They think our generation sucks. These grizzled vets probably think that someone reading this review on their fancy computer, or even worse their iPhone, makes them a candy ass. And, for some reason, we crave this abuse. We practically beg for it by plunking down our hard-earned cash””yes, Granddad, hard-earned””for any story starring a curmudgeonly old Luddite who doesn’t take any crap.

I hate to be a killjoy, but I’ll let you in on a little secret: Every generation in history has thought that the next generation is too soft. Our great-great-grandparents ragged on our pansy grandparents just as harshly””you know, the ones we’ve labeled the Greatest Generation. Even knowing this fact, I love tales that glorify our grandparents’ unyielding will and their outright refusal to let any hint of disrespect go unchecked. Sunset weaves this characteristic into a mob-action comic that’s one of my favorite books this year.