Last month, Fatale told us a story of Mathilda, a woman who lived in 1286 AD. The whole issue revolved around her struggles and dealings with the same problems as Josephine. Now this latest issue takes us to Colorado in 1883. A woman called Black Bonnie is being tracked down by bounty hunters. Bonnie is clearly an outlaw with a lousy shot. It doesn’t matter though because she has her men to do whatever she wants for her. When beginning this comic I was a little skeptical. I really didn’t get into the story till about issue #6. Now, I am addicted…and I don’t know why. I seriously think Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips put some of Josephine’s femme powers into this comic because I can’t stop reading it.
The art is so gruesome. This issue isn’t so bad, but people are literally getting the shit beat out of them with wrenches and heads blown off with guns. The murder scenes show people hanging like cattle. It all fits into the story perfectly. There are a lot of dark shadows sometimes around the more grotesque scenes which only leads my imagination to an even worse place. I wouldn’t expect anything else from a sick religious cult turning their woman into sex objects for men to play with. It is also amazing how the art transcends each time period. It fits perfectly into every scene and I know exactly where I am.
Anyway, we meet up with Bonnie and she has gone into the crooked side of things in the Wild West. She was told by a fortune teller that she would die three times. Bonnie died the first time in 1822 and that is all our narrator tells us of her death. There are a lot questions that are unanswered in the series but believe me it is worth the wait. All we know is that some religious group is behind it all. Bonnie’s posse gets killed by Milkfed. He is a Native American and to test to see if he has the right girl he kills Bonnie too. Bonnie warns Milkfed not to kill her but she can’t control this man for some reason which is revealed later. She awakens and Milkfed takes her to Smythe, an old scholar.
This issue is way slower than issue twelve. In twelve, we get a lot more questions and predictions for the future. In this issue, we really only see that Bonnie still has no idea why she is the way she is and I still have no idea either. We also learn of the Smythe’s secret which is just too good to give away.
This series keeps you questioning everything it is about so I highly suggest reading all the issues. Although you could probably start from issue 12, it is worth every penny to see how Josephine and all the other girls stories (or same girls story) unfold.
Score: 4/5
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Sean Phillips
Colorist: Elizabeth Breitweiser
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.50
Release Date: 3/27/13