We looked at the first issue about 10 months ago, when the stage was being set for this free-for-all battle to the death. As the final issue starts, we're down to just 4 of the 8 competitors left. Two of which, Ravinder Singh and soldier-turned-failed-farmer Colman Cooper, are having a knife fight in a bar.
Singh's been shot twice, but has the upper hand, twice catching Cooper with a left hook, all the while rattling on about how Americans are too slow and weak. Cooper responds that U.S. not being under the Union Jack, while India is, has to count for something. Then he smashes a bottle across Singh's face.
Which doesn't do much beyond adding another scar and getting Cooper chucked headfirst through a window. But he bumps into one of the city's hidden weapons, a loaded shotgun, and then there were 3. Back in Duganville, the bettors are not impressed, Cooper's survival dismissed as luck. Which has his son worried, but his wife is confident enough to tell the town doc - a price-gouging shitheel - he can discuss any bills for room and board with Colman when he returns.
The other fighters left are the Huntsville Hammer and a young Mexican woman apparently dubbed "Lady Lullaby." The Hammer's been taking a breather, after he decided to hang two of the other fighters' corpses from the rafters, seemingly to throw anyone who finds them off their game for a minute. Kind of late in the proceedings to bother with haunted house games, but break time's over, 'cause he's in the lady's sights.
Which suits him fine. Hammer's been making threats and come-ons towards her from the start, but she's got him outclassed on all counts. She sticks to the shadows, taunting him with terms like 'ten cent man,' and shooting him in the arm before moving again. The Hammer chases her out of the building, around the corner - and right into her sights. Determined to go out classy as he came in, he asks her to grant his dying request, and flash him (not the way he phrased it, for the record.)
Meanwhile, Cooper's holed up in the mock-jail tending his wounds and realizing all the other contestants have bounties, the biggest bounty belonging to the lady, who has caught up to him. But wait, she's got an offer. If Cooper kills himself, she promises to make sure his wife and son are looked after. Cooper agrees, but it's a sin to commit suicide, so he asks if she'll do it, promising to give her his back if she gives him a moment to prepare.
He uses that moment to ready the TNT that left in the jail as a potential weapons and sneak out the back door. When she walks in, kaboom. He did have his back turned to her when he pushed the plunger, so he kept his word. Technically. Well, she's dead, so there's no one to know he lied but him. I suspect it won't bother him much, especially as he's now 10 grand richer and going back to Missouri with his family.
{6th longbox, 112th comic. Lead City #4, by Eric Borden (writer), Kyle Brummond (artist)}
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