This one starts a lot better than it finishes. Brubaker sets it during World War II, with Jo getting mixed up with Nazis but these Nazis are really the squid man and his sidekicks. Meanwhile an American soldier sees all these strange things happening and finds himself unintentionally rescuing Jo.

I think the opening is homage to The Keep; I presume the book, but maybe the movie, who knows… But the end feels like Guillermo del Toro’s take on Indiana Jones. It’s this lame, lengthy action sequence. Phillips can draw it, but he’s got no heart in it.

The comic’s easily at its best before Jo even shows up. There’s not a lot of character development on the other cast, so Jo should be the best thing in it. But Brubaker’s forcing her into a predictable comic. It’s almost amateurish.

It’s an okay comic, but not anywhere near Brubaker’s par.

CREDITS

Just a Glance Away; writer, Ed Brubaker; artist and letterer, Sean Phillips; colorist, Elizabeth Breitweiser; publisher, Image Comics.

I’m not sure if Brubaker’s intentionally doing homage or you just can’t do a Western anymore but this issue nods nicely to both John Ford and Unforgiven.

Once again, it’s a new protagonist, a woman in the Old West with the same affliction as Jo. Bonnie, I think. Brubaker summarizes her early life then shows her big adventure, if something so traumatic can be an adventure, where she finds out a little about herself.

Along the way she meets up with a Native American outlaw and a professor of the occult–not at an accredited institution, of course.

Phillips drawing a Western is awesome, as is Brubaker writing one. They ought to try one without the Cthulhu stuff. Just a good Western.

The end has a little surprise. Brubaker instead concentrates on the character development. He’s going to have a hard time maintaining this writing quality in multi-issue arcs.

CREDITS

Down the Darkest Trail; writer, Ed Brubaker; artist and letterer, Sean Phillips; colorist, Elizabeth Breitweiser; publisher, Image Comics.

This issue takes place in thirteenth century France, with a Joan of Arc-type character turning out to be connected somehow to what’s going on with Jo. Maybe not connected, but definitely similarly afflicted. There are only the slightest hints at what’s actually happening with her–demons in the sky–because Brubaker instead has it play as an idyllic Bride of Frankenstein hermit and the monster story.

Except all the violence. There’s a whole lot of violence; the issue opens with some guys burning the lead at the stake. Then the hermit shows up and it’s like the violence has gone, but Brubaker actually just has it building, simmering under the surface. It’s a great done-in-one. I said before Brubaker always does these issues well, but he’s getting better.

And the Phillips art is just beautiful, whether peaceful forest in winter or bloody action sequence.

Fatale’s getting great.

CREDITS

A Lovely Sort of Death; writer, Ed Brubaker; artist and letterer, Sean Phillips; colorist, Elizabeth Breitweiser; publisher, Image Comics.

Brubaker and Phillips excel at these done-in-ones. More Brubaker, I suppose. Though Phillips does excel too, it’s just Brubaker is particularly good when he’s conceiving and executing a one issue story. He always has been good at it.

This issue, set in late thirties rural Texas (Phillips does a wonderful job with the setting), has three things going on. First is a cop who Jo seduces to help her and he’s ruined his life. Then there’s Jo, who’s just found some writer she’s been looking for. Finally there’s the writer, who has clues into the big Fatale mystery but also some secrets of his own.

The great thing is how Brubaker gets actual surprises out of things in so short a time. Not so much with the cop, but the writer and Jo’s scenes are simply amazing. They’re economical and devastatingly well-done.

It’s masterful writing from Brubaker.

CREDITS

The Case of Alfred Ravenscroft; writer, Ed Brubaker; artist and letterer, Sean Phillips; colorist, Dave Stewart; publisher, Image Comics.

Brubaker and Phillips come up with a great conclusion. Not so much for the present day part–Brubaker’s cheap with the present day stuff–but the flashback story closes beautifully.

While there’s a lot of good action, the issue excels because of the characters. Brubaker provides deeper insight into his protagonists during the issue’s busyness. They’re little insights, very quiet, but Brubaker gives them significance without too much emphasis. If that description makes any sense at all. It’s neat.

There’s not much explaining. Not in the present or the past, which gives Fatale an otherworldly tone even though there’s nothing fantastic in this issue. Even with the seventies cult resolution, there’s nothing uncanny either. It’s a very grounded finish to the arc.

Except for the present day stuff. Brubaker rushes it because it’s a cute resolution for the modern protagonist–whose name I have, in fact, forgotten.

Still, great comic.

CREDITS

The Devil’s Business, Chapter Five; writer, Ed Brubaker; artist and letterer, Sean Phillips; colorist, Dave Stewart; publisher, Image Comics.

Hansel, the cult leader, again gets his own scene juxtaposed against the regular action. Once again, it doesn’t work. Everything else this issue works–except one flashback panel requiring the reader to remember minutiae from the arc’s first issue and a revelation scene–but the cult leader is a constant problem.

Brubaker can’t make him interesting. He’s scary, he’s disturbing, but he’s not interesting. He’s just a bad guy. There’s nothing else to him. If he were addicted to Big League Chew, Fatale would work much better.

Anyway, the issue’s successes. Miles and Jo have a nice chemistry to them as they navigate the issue. It’s occasionally domestic, sometimes nearly cute. Brubaker makes Jo extremely sympathetic. The guy a little too, but nowhere near as much. It’s a damsel in distress story, even if there are a lot of damsels and the distress isn’t clear.

It’s a good, fast read.

CREDITS

The Devil’s Business, Chapter Four; writer, Ed Brubaker; artist and letterer, Sean Phillips; colorist, Dave Stewart; publisher, Image Comics.

There’s not a lot of seventies L.A. scenery this issue; there are a couple good moments though, a couple great panels from Phillips. Instead, most of the issue is spent indoors, whether present or past.

Brubaker gives the modern protagonist–Lash, I think (Brubaker makes his name less important every issue)–a little story. There’s some mystery, of course. A flashback in the present tense set after the regular flashback. And then there’s a cliffhanger in the present.

There’s a cliffhanger in the past too, but Brubaker’s so successful in splitting the two, it’s hard to see the cliffhanger as consequential. All these events occurred forty years before the present action. There’s nothing anyone can do to change them.

It’s an excellent issue. Brubaker’s got a few plots running and he’s writing great characters for all of them. Well, except the evil cult leader’s tone-deaf interlude. It’s weak.

CREDITS

The Devil’s Business, Interlude and Chapter Three; writer, Ed Brubaker; artist and letterer, Sean Phillips; colorist, Dave Stewart; publisher, Image Comics.

There are so many new supporting characters this issue, I really hope Brubaker isn’t expecting me to remember them all. He opens the issue revealing a little of Jo’s new ground situation. She’s in the house, there are more secrets (physical indications abound), but probably none relevant to this storyline. It’s mood. Phillips’s great at mood.

Then the arc’s protagonist–Miles–heads out to see what kind of trouble he’s gotten himself into. Page after page of Phillips seventies L.A. The art more than makes up for what seems like Brubaker treading water. He’s trying to get the day out of the way so Miles and Jo can go to a cult ceremony.

At this cult ceremony, Brubaker reveals (to the characters, not the reader) some of the connections to the previous Fatale story arc.

Brubaker has a fair amount of artificiality to his plotting, but it’s a good comic.

CREDITS

The Devil’s Business, Chapter Two; writer, Ed Brubaker; artist and letterer, Sean Phillips; colorist, Dave Stewart; publisher, Image Comics.

Brubaker introduces a lot of little mysteries this issue. Some happen in the present, most happen in the past; the big one is how the past and present are connected.

The present day mystery isn’t particularly intriguing, not when compared to the ones in the flashback. It’s set in seventies Hollywood, with a b-actor the apparent protagonist. Brubaker does spend a little time from Jo’s point of view, but she’s such a sympathetic character here it’s hard to recognize her.

The protagonist stumbles into a few of the big mysteries and serendipitously ends up at Jo’s house in the hills. Brubaker makes it feel completely reasonable, never contrived.

Phillips excels at the time period. The art’s more interesting with just the mundane–the fantastic or horror elements are nothing compared to Phillips’s seventies street scenes.

It’s a good comic and gets one interested, even if there’s nothing particularly sensational.

CREDITS

The Devil’s Business, Prologue and Chapter One; writer, Ed Brubaker; artist and letterer, Sean Phillips; colorist, Dave Stewart; publisher, Image Comics.

Brubaker recovers very nicely. And he lets Phillips go outside. Phillips’s outdoors art is always lovely.

There’s a surprise in the issue–or two, but the second one is somewhat immaterial–and Brubaker did a great job setting it up. It makes perfect sense and is only possible because he kept switching the perspective around through the last few issues. Can’t get too close when one of your characters is completely different than you’ve set him or her up.

The issue ends the first arc and has frame set in the modern day. It’s a mistake. Brubaker reminds the reader he never set up the modern ground situation in the flashback. Actually, he did everything he could to make it seem totally impossible for the characters to move into these new positions on the board.

Still, Fatale succeeds big time.

Brubaker just needs to justify the framing character a bit.

CREDITS

Death Chases Me, Chapter Five; writer, Ed Brubaker; artist, Sean Phillips; colorist, Dave Stewart; publisher, Image Comics.