X is brewing up a nice cup of black coffee. Last issue shook me up a bit thinking we would have Leigh soften up and X slow down his act. I am happy to report that we have a new story happening that may give Berkshire a run for his money. I think why I like it so much is because he is right on that line of good and bad. Clearly, X does his killings for the right reasons. The town is a total hairy mess, and the only way to clean it up is to pull the hairs out. But then Leigh has a point by thinking the town just needs a voice to follow. I think X will have a lot to learn from Leigh, and judging by his actions he already has. Our new villain is El Jefe, Arcadia’s head drug lord. He runs the town and the all the supplies. This includes family owned stores that carry products for him; in exchange the family doesn’t die. We have been starting to see that the cops are just crooked as the rest of the town when some of its men rob a store for El Jefe. X comes along in true X fashion. The action is great here. It made me gag a little with all the blood and eyes, but that is what X does to the reflexes. The characters that Eric Nguyen creates are fantastic. He brings a hybrid of animals to humanoid form. It is quite interesting to see these creatures and brings the creepy factor to Arcadia. By far Nguyen puts all his efforts into this week’s cover though. I love it. The blood is so real, and X is in a typical stomp-down move.
The coolest thing about this issue is that X no longer delivers his warnings of one slash marks with a picture anymore. He delivers them a slash mark, literally. It is cool to see the whole rodeo of cops get a single warning. The picture was becoming so yesterday, so the new improved warning makes for the real deal. Maybe he will actually scare some cops into doing good. Although there is a new cop in town that X doesn’t need to convince.
We met Daniel, a new narrator for us. It was nice to get introduced to a new narrator, since sometimes I get sick of one person always taking the point of view away from others. He is a clean cop who just transferred to Arcadia. I hope this introduction of Daniel isn’t just for us to fall in love with and then he dies suddenly. I really want him to be a staple in the comic. He may remind me of the Peeta of the Hunger Games, but I think I can dig Daniel a little bit more.
The comic is taking a risk with bringing in such a new character that isn’t like X at all. I would say that most people read this comic because they like X. Since Daniel is nothing like him it could cause for some fans to hate the new guy. For me, I think a change in voices will be nice. It will allow for more people to latch onto the good guy. I am excited to see where the story goes and how the other cops take the new dude.
Score: 3/5
Writer: Duane Swierczynski Artist: Eric Nguyen Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Price: $2.99 Release Date: 10/9/13