To everything, turn, turn, turn, there is a season… oh, sorry. It’s just Williamson has hit the end of this season of Nailbiter. He ends on an expository note, though there is at least the nod at a subplot about some kids going to the Nailbiter’s house on Halloween.

But everything else? The sheriff, the FBI guy, the serial killers? It all gets wrapped up in talking head scenes. The sheriff’s hospital room is a meeting spot for people looking to get their storylines finished. It’s not so much rushed as drawn out. Williamson could’ve structured it with one of the protagonists–like, maybe the FBI guy since it was originally his comic–but instead, he’s in a rush.

I think I’m done with Nailbiter. Williamson has never really gotten anywhere on the book and Henderson’s art hasn’t either. It’s a competent comic book, but they chased Hollywood to the point they lost anything special.

Is the explanation for Nailbiter’s town of serial killers going to be Nazi experiments in the forties? I think Williamson is going to go for it, meaning he’s always had an explanation in mind for the comic. He’s also getting even soapier as it (presumably) winds up.

The sheriff has a big secret, which the flashbacks are hinting at.

And Nailbiter can almost handle it. It can almost handle being “Twin Peaks,” “Beverly Hills 90210,” “The X-Files,” and “Criminal Minds” rolled into one. But Henderson’s art is all wrong for it. He can’t do the absurdity in the soap. He can’t handle it. He plays it straight and it makes Nailbiter flop. He does it on a full page spread this issue too.

Just flops.

The mood overpowers the narrative novelty and that novelty’s all Nailbiter has that this point so it’s a problem.

But, it’s okay enough.

Nailbiter is such a strange book. Not so much in its actual content, but in what a wide net Williamson throws over the various genres. In some ways, it feels like a “Twin Peaks” imitator. But here Williamson introduces a bit of an “X-Files” vibe.

This issue has the heroes teaming up–so you have serial killer, serial killer’s ex-girlfriend now sheriff and super-violent FBI guy–to discover the secret of the serial killers. Not so much the titular Nailbiter, but all the other serial killers. Williamson’s explanation, which he hints at having without hinting at the solution, seems more appropriate for an M. Night Shyamalan movie. Or maybe some kind of realistic superhero movie.

Like I said, it’s a strange book. And it doesn’t quite gel. The series has too many characters Williamson forgets about and then brings back.

Confusing, messy, it’s still a compelling read.

Some of this issue is the best Nailbiter in a long time. Some of it is not. The end of the comic is definitely not; Williamson even manages to reverse a good scene he did at the start of the issue. He’s too concerned with having a plot twist every issue. A constantly twisty plot isn’t enough to keep a comic going (definitely not at thirteen issues in). It’s like he misunderstands the principles of the Brubaker reveal.

Because what’s great about this issue is the characters, the revelation the sheriff used to be a serial killer fan in high school. All of the kids were serial killer fans as their teenage rebellion. Far more interesting than whatever surprising but narratively pointless plot twist comes next.

Williamson spent too much time on the disgraced FBI guy. The sheriff’s a far better protagonist.

So, it’s a somewhat rewarding, somewhat not read.