[crashryan]

In an interview Alberto Giolitti was asked to contrast the stories he illustrated for American and British comics. He observed that American comics tend to tell stories about adventures that happen to the hero, while British comics tend to describe adventures in which the hero takes part.

I think that's what I find these Buck Ryan stories so appealing. There's no question that Buck is the hero, but the stories take a wider view, with antagonists, secondary characters, and local color having almost as important a role as Buck himself. I like how Freeman tries to give his villains (usually) believable motives and individual personalities. Wiseman pointed out that Gould's Dick Tracy operates on a symbolic level; Buck Ryan on the other hand operates on a smaller "ordinary people" level.

In this story Honey chooses to stick with her husband rather than flee, even though it means life in prison. That's not the sort of thing most comic strip villainesses would do, and it's just the sort of thing that make Freeman's stories so readable.

Link to the book: Buck Ryan 51 - The Surprise Bag