By Dustin Cabeal
One can only imagine what the toxic side of the comic fanbase describes this Garth Ennis story as when complaining that “he’s lost a step” or some such crap. I’m sure “woke” and “broke” are thrown around, but I have no personal interest in tracking down what people are saying about comics and stories. I’m here to put out my thoughts on the lure and see what I can reel back in. That and otherwise, I would spend this entire review fighting against some opinion I saw somewhere instead of reviewing the comic.
The Ribbon Queen is a socially aware story. It’s not unusual for Garth Ennis to write a story like this; it’s just that so many people have been lost in his ultra-violent stories that they forget the underlying connection to the world events at the time of the stories' release. It’s something that he’s done throughout his entire career, be it with mixed results of course. No one nails it 100% of the time. In the case of The Ribbon Queen, a great deal of time is spent including these real-world events and subjects that have populated the news, social media, and society at large for the past several years. The main problem being that it’s not attempting to answer or solve any of these problems/subjects; it’s just stating them and using them to dive into fantasy horror.
The story follows somewhat disgraced cop Amy as she comes to her chief to let him know that she suspects a high-profile member of the SWAT team for the murder of her recent homicide. The victim was saved by said SWAT team during a raid on a serial killer. The cop felt that he deserved more of a thank you for saving the college girl's life from the serial killer and began stalking her and building up a relationship in his head that didn’t exist. Now the girl is dead, and Amy has a recording of the cop threatening the victim. The first issue ends with the body of the victim missing, and Amy going to the cop’s house to confront him, only to find him being skinned alive in front of his family.
The second issue picks up after the police and ambulance have arrived. Amy is mad at the chief for telling the cop about her investigation, and now all his buddies have it out for her. Two of which find her in the bathroom at the police station and begin beating the hell out of her until the dead victim comes to her rescue.
The first two issues were not enough to put me off the issue, nor were they enough to get me onboard. While I’ll read the third issue, the pacing of that issue will determine if I stick with the series and see it to the end or call it a day and move on to something else. Ennis’ pacing here is off. There’s no other way to describe it as the story is spending time mentioning the unsavory elements of the character’s pasts. All of them are ripped from the headlines, of course, which is eating up a lot of pages as facts and opinions are presented. The Ribbon Queen element is barely touched upon in two issues, and yet it’s the interesting element of the story. None of the other details enrich this journey and make the Ribbon Queen more of a criminal of the week on a procedural cop show. It’s as if Amy is going to nab her, look at the camera, and say something cheeky, and then next week she’ll bust The Dad Behind on Child Support. Several times while reading the two issues, I stopped and wished that it would stop talking so damn much.
The art is great. Jacen Burrows has evolved as an artist since last I saw their work. The ultra-violence is visually interesting. It’s not overpowering and frankly, it’s in such a small dose it leaves you wanting more. At times, it does feel like it’s telling its own story, like when it shows a person in a vent above Amy’s head pointing a gun at her. I don’t know who the fuck designed this apartment and put people-sized vents in the units, but the airflow has got to be terrible considering the size of commercial units for apartment complexes. The story that wouldn’t stop talking never drew attention to this person, and at this point, I’m not even sure whose side the person in the vent was on. Amy’s or SWAT guy. A lot of the cops all look the same, but that might have been the point, it’s not like we’re getting to know them for the story, so it’s mostly fine. The coloring was a bit too flat and could have added more depth to the art. As a result, all the faces are very smooth and without so much as a blemish on them. There’s a lot of empty backgrounds as well, but that’s typical for most comics. The coloring is very successful on the gore without being overpowering. All in all, the art is the strongest part of the story and made it much more enjoyable.
There are some struggles throughout The Ribbon Queen, the biggest being the mystery around the title. The name isn’t even mentioned until nearly the end of the second issue. Is it Ennis’ best work? Probably not, but it’s an enjoyable comic thus far. While I’m uncertain if I’ll finish it, I don’t regret reading it or feel as if I’ve wasted my time. That is the eternal struggle of comic books, giving the reader a reason to return. Sometimes the names of the creators are enough to do that, but ultimately the work itself needs to be the reason to continue with it. Issue three will be the make-or-break moment for this series, but for now, it’s an average comic that’s enjoyable to read.
Score: 3/5
The Ribbon Queen #1 and #2
AWA Studios