Moving right along, we have the penultimate issue of one mini-series, and the penultimate quartile of another series. If you count the two Locust series as one big, 8-issue mini, then the fifth issue is. . .you know what? I don't have to justify this to you. Let's just get on with it.
In the past, Max and Stella explore a shopping mall right after Ford's men kill a bunch of scientists that were trying to broadcast a message about what's happening. That's pretty grim, and the color scheme is still a washed out grey, but Stella is very excited about getting to eat a can of corned beef and ride one of the little rocket ship things outside the arcade. I don't know whether it's sweet she can find joy in the midst of this, or sad these sorts of things qualify as a great day for her.
In the present, Max and the cultist he caught previously are attacked by a bunch of the locusts. They survive, though Max gets chomped on, but made too much noise and are discovered by the guy Max wanted to avoid. Who looks a lot like one of the guys that got killed in the sequence in the past. Not sure if that's just a coincidence on Nieto's part, or if that person actually survived. Because Max seems to know them, and we haven't seen that meeting yet.
Then Ford launches some nukes at NYC from the Army base he's taken over, because he's determined to rebuild this world the way he thinks it should be. Which is an interesting escalation. I'm guessing that will serve as a backdrop to the remainder of the story, as Max continues trying to rescue Stella.
While the color scheme is still oppressively drab, it does feel like Nieto pulled back on it a bit in the interests of clarity. Not as many sequences where I feel like I'm squinting through fog trying to tell what's going on. Also seems like the blacks are more solid, pronounced than they were in the first mini-series. Maybe that owes to the lightening of the colors overall, but it helps. It makes the contrast of the shadows, makes them stand out more. Better effect.
Most of this issue is Jack's war against the Keys. He meets with the feds long enough to explain what he's doing, and basically assure them they can't stop him. Meanwhile, the mob boss tries to tell his men to act differently than normal to avoid falling into Jack's traps. This apparently fails utterly as Tobin has firmly planted Jack in the same realm as the seemingly omniscient serial killers in horror movies.
He lets 3 guys spot him leaving a store, they start to chase, but two of them stop, because obviously they are being fooled. They retreat to their car, the third guy keeps going across the rooftops in what is a fairly entertaining chase as Alburquerque makes it more than just two guys running. Lots of leaping across gaps, or having to lunge for a higher ledge. Adds in some interesting bits for what people get up to on rooftops.
Anyway, Dumbass 1 catches up to Jack, but steps on a pressure plate, triggering a shotgun to blow his head off at the exact same time Jack is using a sniper rifle to kill the two guys in the car because they're taking the route he knew they would take. Jack even went to the trouble of dressing in a casual guy jogging suit to complete the, "oh crap, you have taken my by surprise!" effect.
Maybe I should have expected this, but it was easier when Jack was ambushing one or two guys in a drug lab before they could know what was hitting them. This level of planning and foresight is severely straining my suspension of disbelief, even if watching the Keys' boss come up with increasingly ludicrous suggestions of how they could be unpredictable is funny. I actually think the "distribute fliers like he's a missing person" suggestion has merit. Or the "hire a circus to kill him" idea.
Through it all, Jack is really only concerned about his relationship with Vera, and the fact he's gotta tell her the truth eventually. I don't know how Tobin is going to play that. Is Vera actually a plant by the Keys? Will she freak out and leave Jack broken-hearted and ready to be arrested/executed? Will she think him actually killing people is really hot and decide to join him, like that movie with Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick, Mr. Right?
No comments:
Post a Comment