Sometimes, art imitates life. In this confluence of coincidence, issue 3 of this Hard Case Crime book from Titan Comics Christmas rears its wintery head. But with a murder to cover up or solve, depending on your point of view, there isn’t a great deal of good will to all men or women.
Aiesha’s son, Lorenzo, is still on the hook for the Central Park murder, prompting AJ to take matters into her own hands in the search of funds for bail, as the story takes a bit of a break from Roxy’s situation As expected, the good and the bad are getting closer to their perspective goals regardless of the impact that this may have on the girls and at least one of Roxy’s close associates.
Christa Faust and Gary Phillips continue to weave a path of dirt, death and destruction around Roxy and her loose ensemble of friends and acquaintances. As part of the issue, we get to see a different, somewhat more vulnerable side to Roxy.  This vulnerability to the character adds a great touch; it is as if Faust and Phillips may have recognized that Roxy needed some humanizing, to take a step back from being in total control all the time. For the rest of the now familiar cast, it’s pretty much as you were as the story takes another couple of twists and turns, one of which is pretty much expected. With another busy issue, it would be easy for the story to feel bloated by its own weight of confusion. Faust and Phillips remain in full control of the reins and it appears things will get a lot more heated before the storm of violence finally breaks.
Andrea Camerini provides the art once more. I am not sure what is different about this issue, but there is something that I can’t put my finger on. There is still some great emotion on show, there is still some great camera angles that help with the drive of the story. There is also some great figure work. But put that all that aside, there is also a lot of areas that lack the same level of details. The eye-witness for example may well be a throwaway character, yet surely she deserves the same focus as the main characters? As such, with other example of this effect apparent in the book, there is a feeling of the art being rushed, which leaves it a little less striking as previous issues. Marco Lesko does another great job on the colors adding texture when Camerini takes a “less is more” approach to certain characters and environs.
Overall, this book is still a good read with the burden of the murder beginning to have serious ramifications for a number of people, which gives the reader more than one point of view each with their own importance and baggage. I am very interested how much weight the story can hold before Faust and Phillips start toward what is beginning to look like a confliction of a conclusion.
Writing – 4.5 Stars
Art – 3.5 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Author Profile
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I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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