Eat. Bang! Kill. ends better than I was expecting. While the sludge monster, Mephitic, holds Harley prisoner and tries in vain to find a way past her poison immunity, Ivy teams up with Vixen for a rescue mission. Along the way—pretty early on—Ivy meets Vixen’s girlfriend and starts getting insight into how healthy relationships work.
It’s an excellent sequence, with the girlfriend, Elle, excited to be guest starring in the issue and Vixen utterly unamused at Elle and Ivy’s fast friendship. It’s delightful.
They have a team-up and mount-up routine to go through as Mephitic decides to start injecting Ivy with toxins versus airborne, so the stakes raise throughout. Writer Tee Franklin employs lots of narration snippets from the various cast members to significant effect this issue. Everyone gets to participate this time.
The finale has some prep for the show’s next season, including some cameos from show-only cast members. Franklin writes them perfectly.
The big fight sequence heavily relies on character relationships, with artist Max Sarin a little confused how to break everything out. There are some fight scene cameo surprises; Sarin does fine breaking those out; it’s the actual blow-by-blow of the fight.
Thank goodness what matters more is Ivy and Harley making lovey-talk, which Franklin and Sarin have got down. It’s viciously adorable.
I’m not sure this series had to be six issues—given the arc and the eventual resolution for Ivy (i.e., let’s wait for the show), it could’ve been three or four. Three would’ve been best or four but with backups to other characters.
Still, it’s a solid outing, quite good for being a comic spin-off to a streaming cartoon, in continuity but not required reading to follow the show. I wouldn’t be surprised if it reads better in one sitting too, though the finale tie-in is perfect for a monthly periodical.
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