by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips (Illustrator)
Publisher: Image Comics (August 21, 2018)
Softcover, 144 pages
The
final volume in the series collecting issues 15 through 20. I have always been
impressed by the collaborations between Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips- Fatale, Criminal, The Fade Out, & Incognito- and I tore this this book as
quickly as I did all the others. These two have a style which makes it impossible
to just put the book down. See here for volumes one, two, and three.
As
we remember from the previous volume a depressed twenty-something who drunkenly
attempts suicide by jumping off his apartment building. Miraculously, he
survives only to be haunted by a demon that claims the hero owes payment for
his life. One person a month must be killed at the main character’s hands or else
the protagonist himself will die.
Since
the last installment, the protagonist has checked himself into an insane asylum
to deal with the possibility that the demon haunting him (and possibly his
whole family) was a figment of his imagination. Meanwhile a copycat vigilante
is roaming the streets, diverting the attention of the NYPD taskforce looking
for the main character, and the Russian mob pops back up again.
The
only thing holding the story back is the ending. It’s not bad, but it’s not
great either. The deal with the demon is left ambiguous, and might be passed
onto the protagonist’s girlfriend- reminding me a little of the Grendel comics by Matt Wagner. It’s a
conclusion which isn’t more exciting than the build up to it.
For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.
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