Review: Hard Case Crime Breakneck #4

Publisher Titan Comics Presents Hard Case Crime Breakneck #4
Written by Swierczynski (as the first writer to work the F-bomb into an Archie book) and drawn by Simone Guglielmini, Raffaele Semeraro, and Lovern Kindzierski.

Hard Case Crime Breakneck #4 is the final story in an arc in which Joe Hayward had one thing on his mind, that was to rearrange the face of the guy whoÂ is sleeping with his wife either with a brick or a baseball bat, but soon Joe will find himself immersed in a terrorist plot that threatens the entire city of Philadelphia, Joe’s life gets even crazier though when the government agent whoÂ is sleeping with his wife gets involved in trying to save the entire East coast from being obliterated, but at some point Joe Hayward get kicked off a metro train from two stories up.

In Hard Case Crime Breakneck #4 we find out that Joe survives the fall, and now finally gets the opportunity the confront the cheating wife.Â But the true center of gravity being the ticking clock behind the possible destruction of Philadelphia.

Before yo Alas this being a a pulp fiction it does have its narrative problems.Â So far instance there is a bomb set to destroy the city, yet no one alerts the police authorities to let them know whats going on so that they can try and evacuate? Much less the so called spymaster who stays behind…why didn’t he evacuate the city while informing his bosses at the same time ?Â Also I have to wonder what type of city leveling bombÂ fits inside a shoe box much less a car.

The artwork done by Simone Guglielmini, Raffaele Semeraro, and Lovern Kindzierski, definitely gives you what you paid for.Â Providing real down-to-earth tone and a tense ticking clock and a sense of urgency, they definitely made Breakneck #4 worth its cover.Â The only thing is you are not going to want to start at #4 as it is not a standalone issue.Â Pick up issues 1-4a and you’ll be rewarded with the inside jokes that become part of the conversation later.

Hard Case Crime Breakneck #4 is okay, not great, but when paired together with the whole series it definetely gets higher marks.Â I wish they had more tome to flesh out the story actually. Hard Case Crime Breakneck #4 comes in two Covers: Cover A Regular drawn by Will Conrad Cover; Â Cover B Variant drawn by Simone Guglielmini Cover.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

(W) Duane Swierczynski (A) Simone Guglielmini – Various