REVIEW: A Righteous Thirst For Vengeance No.5

Never has a Honda Civic looked so desirable. Andre Araujo has a niche in “A Righteous Thirst … for making the most mundane appear to belong in museum galleries. This is simple action flick schlock with a storyline that is shrouded in mystery even after being four issues in. The violence is fast-paced with the conversation playing as much as a background to the situation as to the scene where the protagonist is shown on the T.V. screen of a seedy biker-bar wanted for questioning in relation to a string of murders.

The way Remender writes his protagonist forces him into a string of situations that could be pictured alongside a definition for Murphy’s Law. So many unfortunate events happen to this protagonist, that I can’t even tell if he truly is the protagonist within his own story. I wouldn’t be surprised if Remender caps off this tale showing that the protagonist was really the mastermind antagonist all along with some form of dissociative identity that framed him into appearing as the hero to the reader. But “A Righteous Thirst … ” isn’t capped off yet, so the blood flows as large panels feature the deaths of women and children in the wake of a protagonist who suffers a critical beatdown worse than a Black Elvis lost in space could ever possibly philosophize.

There is an ornate attention to detail that could easily be overlooked on the first go of this issue : the pin-up photos on the wall of the bar that follow into the storage room , the way that the word “Shit” lands to complete another thought almost completely unrelated to the previous panel’s conversation – nuances like these are what make “A Righteous Thirst For Vengeance” more than just an adrenaline hit for the action comic junkie; there is enough Easter eggs here to not only entice the audience to re-read this issue, but also to go back and pick up the other four previous releases, because with a story as spread out and vague as this – memory will play tricks on the reader.

So it’s not a reach to say that “A Righteous Thirst For Vengeance” feels like sitting down and watching Christopher Nolan’s “Memento” in consecutive order : just because everything is laid out and filled with loud, explosive, action does not mean that the form of entertainment should be taken as simple. Rather, Remender’s “A Righteous Thirst For Vengeance” is an unpredictable dingy joy-ride in a fish bowl Honda Civic, where one reading does not know if there is death waiting around the corner with every (page) turn.

Score : 5/5

(W) Rick Remender (A/CA) Andre Araujo, Chris O’Halloran