Get the Lobster keeps getting better and better. It took me awhile to warm up to it, but I’m fully comfortable saying this is some of the most ridiculous fun I’ve had reading a comic book in a while. In this issue, we finally get a glimpse of what the criminal mastermind with the miniatures is after and what his plan is, and it turns out it’s a wicked awesome conspiracy. I love a good conspiracy. We also see more of the mysterious mansion-dweller and his manservants, and we actually start to turn on the Lobster as the hero. He’s lived long enough to see himself become the villain, as it were.

One trap that Get the Lobster falls into a lot in this arc is the good old-fashioned “morality of vigilantes” debate. It’s something that’s been done to death in Batman comics, with the public and the readers generally coming down on the side of Batman, because... I mean, he’s Batman. In Get the Lobster, I found myself spending more time agreeing with the Chief of Police than with the vigilante, and I’m not sure why. We don’t spend any more pages with the Chief of Police than we do with the Lobster, but the Chief does get more lines, whereas all of our interactions with the Lobster are still just him, and the shadows, and his brusque attitude.

Is it because we don’t get to see the Lobster as a man? When we read Batman books, even when Batman was at his douchiest, we’d get some time with billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne, we’d get a glimpse of the man who Batman could be, if he chose. With the Lobster, there is no choice, no foppish alter ego—there is only Lobster. It makes him hard and a tough man to break, but it also makes him tough to relate to when all we really ever see is him dealing with his horde of sidekicks like they were dog shit on his shoe. (Seriously, he’s so rude to his hench-people all the time. I think I’m missing an origin story, because I have zero idea why they stick around.)

Zonjic’s art is growing on me more and more by the month. He still struggles with facial expressions sometimes, but he’s also got a great handle on who these characters are in terms of the physical space they occupy. You can see Zonjic’s Lobster in a small corner from yards away and still be able to tell it’s him without the giant glowing lobster claw. It’s a neat trick, and one I’d trade my good eye to know how he does it.

Speaking of claws, he said in a leading transition, I’m still not sure what the deal is with the guy with the mechanical hand. He showed up last issue, I believe, and basically only showed up in this issue to shake a guy’s hand too hard. He seems like a cheap gag, and I don’t know if he’s supposed to be the final boss, as it were. If he is, I’m already not afraid of him, so here’s hoping the creative team can turn that around on me in the final fight.

Overall, the pulpiness of this comic is only getting better and more fun to read. Now that the midget and the Russian Bear are gone, it’s just pure and simple bank robbers, cops, and vigilantes. I love it.

Score: 4/5

Writers: Mike Mignola and John Arcudi Artist: Tonci Zonjic Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 4/2/14 Format: Mini-Series - Print/Digital