Powell and Wiesch double down with the torture this issue of Big Man Plans (the last in this series, hopefully not ever) and it’s darn unpleasant. Powell seems to try to think of grosser and grosser panels to compose every few pages.
In between the torture is the flashback to the idyllic days of Big Man’s life, back when he loved a girl. The first girl, because this issue has hints at his current (or at least recent) girlfriend; she’s from his home town, she marries the sheriff. The story is sensational and horrifying but not really original. It doesn’t need to be original. What’s original is Powell and Wiesch just got people to read a whole comic about punitive torture.
And it’s not a trick. The writers get the reader to buy into it. It’s what this issue is all about.
It’s an effective comic; not sure about good.
CREDITS
Writers, Eric Powell and Tim Wiesch; artist and letterer, Powell; publisher, Image Comics.
There’s more torture this issue of Big Man Plans but it’s Big Man doing the torturing, not the other way around. And the people he’s torturing–whether it’s his cousin or his aunt, even though we don’t know what they’ve done to deserve it, we know they deserve it.
The first half of the issue is a whole lot better than the second half. The second half has our hero–called Big Man in the letter pages–enduring a whole bunch of torture. Page after page of it. Powell goes from drawing five or six panels a page to three. He doesn’t do backgrounds. He’s going for emphasis.
The cynic in me hopes they do the Big Man Plans TV show well. I’m also hopeful for it, because if it gets a TV show, it’ll probably get another series. This series is only four issues and I can already tell I’m going to want more.