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Review: Hook Jaw #3

By Chris Tresson

Greetings, Chum! We’re about to dive into my review of the third issue of Titan Comics’ Hook Jaw miniseries, written by Simon Spurrier and drawn by Conor Boyle. It’s been pretty good so far and we’re over halfway through with this one, so the finish is in sight… Let’s find out if it’s any good.

This one was a bit of a weird issue for me. In parts it felt like there was less happening than in the previous issues but then there were parts in this third issue that didn’t make me care all that much. It wasn’t as action packed as I was hoping for, but I did get a lot more shark action this time around, which makes it hard for me to call this a bad issue. I’m not going to call it a bad issue. If I put my personal opinion that every page of this comic should be a shark eating various things and terrorizing people, it was actually a pretty good issue.

I’m still loving Si Spurrier’s writing on this series. He’s still funny when it’s called for and there hasn’t been anything glaring about the story that I can pull apart. I think he’s done a great job with a comic I think most writers would struggle with, so my hat’s off to him. I get the feeling that we’re in for a strong finish and I’m looking forward to it. 

Artist Conor Boyle is still going strong, though there were one or two panels that seemed a bit shaky towards the end of the book but I’m willing to give that a pass because the final panel, the absolute last panel in this issue… is FUCKING AWESOME. I Loved it. It’s the reason why I’m still enjoying this book so much. I want to see this shark fuck some stuff up and Conor’s providing it. Top notch job from colorist Giulia Brusco again this issue, I’m really enjoying the coloring on this series, it has been great so far.

I’m still enjoying the series and it hasn’t slowed down all that much since it started. There’s part of me that is glad that this is a miniseries, though. I can’t see how well it’d go on an ongoing basis. But then again, saying that, this character used to feature in a weekly comic (before it was banned, haha.) I’d be interested in talking to Pat Mills to see what sort of ideas he had for the character, whether or not he had any longterm plans for Hook Jaw or if he was just doing it all on the fly. I’ll be sure to ask if I see him. 

Anyways, to finish, I would recommend this book/series. Probably not this late into the series if you’re coming in fresh to this, but if you’re reading along with me, continue to do so. Also, if you are reading along, let me know what you think of the series in the comments below. I don’t seem to be meeting a lot of people who are reading this one…

SCORE: 4/5

Hook Jaw #3

Writer: Simon Spurrier
Artist: Conor Boyle
Colorist: Giulia Brusco
Publisher: Titan Comics