By Ashley Gibbs

Samaritan Veritas #3 brings us the exciting conclusion of this short but impactful series. Samantha Copeland is a genius hacker who came out of hiding to seek revenge on the corrupt President of the United States linked to the death of someone dear to her. She’s used her computer skills and the dark web to get pretty far, kidnapping rich but morally bankrupt people to reach her end goal. The situation is reaching a boiling point, and Sam may not even make it out of this alive, but she’s determined to take the President down with her.

Her latest target, Richard Lawton, has the evidence Sam needs to bring down the President but getting it won’t be easy. She has assassins after her, and the government doesn’t care who gets caught in the crossfire as they’ve already planned to pin her murder on Sam’s friend in the FBI, Special Agent Campbell. There is a lot of action present in this issue, especially as Sam and her crew infiltrate a secure facility looking for the evidence they need. But beyond the guns and fighting, there is a woman who is resigned to her fate and knows no matter how this all ends her life is probably over. Taking down the one man she’s after is her goal, but the whole machine is unfortunately too corrupt and too vast for her to do anything about. The ending is certainly bittersweet.

I’ve enjoyed the artwork for this entire series, and this issue is no different, it helps to have the same artist work on each one. The facial expressions in this issue, in particular, are full of emotions, as they should be for the grand finale. The fight scenes are rough and gritty; there are guns and blood but not too much. The most intense fight scene was towards the end, Ellen versus Mirra. Two highly trained assassins at each other’s throats, each punch and kick was fluid and popped off the page. I even reread their fight scene because I enjoyed it so much. Though I do question why Ellen went undercover to kill Samantha in a bright red suit with red hair, it was the opposite of subtle. And while the backgrounds, for the most part, were good I didn’t like the technique they used for overhead shots of the military facility. They devoted almost whole pages for this, but they were blurry and conflicted with the rest of the book.

I’m sad that Samaritan Veritas #3 is the end of this series, I thought Sam would fight for a bit longer. However, one thing I like about independent titles like this is that they do end. A complete story was told here, one that a new reader could enjoy for three issues. However, this connects to a larger overarching world and reading this series stirred my interest in it. I enjoyed reading about these characters and since they’re apart of a greater set of stories I can probably keep enjoying them as well. The last page promises readers that the adventures will continue in a series about the assassin Mirra coming in 2018 so be on the lookout, fans.

Score: 5/5

Samaritan Veritas #3
Writer: Matt Hawkins
Artist: Atilio Rojo
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Publisher: Top Cow