At some point this became a four issue mini-series which I wasn’t aware of or paying attention to. It’s a shame because the story unfortunately comes to a conclusion and not a very satisfying one. There’s been a lot of buildup on what Jack’s powers are and why the fuck he has a flaming basketball on the side of his mask. Both questions are actually answered, but it leaves you with a “that’s it” type feeling. With so much building up to this issue it’s a shame that it’s over and done with at the drop of a flaming basketball. The entire issue is just a build up to answer those two questions so I won’t be summing up a lot. The gist is that we see Jack visit the man who ran him down to basically rub it in his face that he’s taken his life and is better than him at everything he loved. He then kills him with a paper clip which was pretty cool.
In the present timeline with see Dead End going up against Black Snake still and it turns out in Jack’s favor of course. There are a few cool things about this scene that are action related. The story then does one more bounce to the past to answer one of the questions and then again to the present to answer the other.
To be honest I don’t really understand the explanation that’s given for Jack’s powers. I mean I understand, but it doesn’t make sense with the rest of the story. For instance it’s mentioned by several characters that Dead End was in a prison, but that’s counter to his “powers” and really counter to everything we’ve read in the series. I can buy luck powers, but I can’t really buy the explanation presented here. As for the flaming basketball, it was more underwhelming than anything. It was just a logical yet dumb reason.
The art continues to be the star of the show and while the story didn’t live up to its own buildup the art continued to deliver. The action was still over the top and gruesome at times, but always easy to follow. We see more superhero archetypes in this issue and they’re some nice homage to other characters. The coloring, oh the coloring; it really gives this book a sharp look and it’s played a huge role in the art’s success. The coloring really brings this entire story to life.
It sucks that this is the last issue. I didn’t expect it to go on forever, but it would have been nice to have a few more issues or at least twelve issues. Maybe it’ll return for a second volume, but the story would have its work cut out for it to deliver an interesting story. This issue on the other hand… is an ending. It does what it needs to in order to close the series, but it buckles under its own buildup.
Score: 3/5
Writer: Herik Hanna Artist: Bruno Bessadi Colorist: Geatan Georges Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment Price: $3.99 Release Date: 4/16/14 Format: Mini-Series, Print/Digital