Redneck #12 is a great close to a somewhat uneven arc. Cates’s plotting on Redneck has always had its issues. He tends to rush things. This issue’s a mostly action issue, starting with the cops surrounding the vampire house (in Waco, of course). Cates starts big and focuses in. He’s got a surprise in store;…

Big reveal this issue of Redneck. It seems like it’s going to kick off a flashback issue, but it doesn’t. It just sets up the cliffhanger (for now); first it has a twist. Then the cliffhanger has a second reveal, which Cates has been hinting at for a while. It seemed like it was going…

This issue of Redneck is mostly one of the vampire familiars in an FBI interrogation. Lots of flashbacks to how he met the family and became a familiar. And why he stayed with them. Otherwise, there’s not much to the issue. Cates takes the action back to the family for the last few pages, to…

It’s kind of a bridging issue for Redneck. The bad guy–renegade vampire–has his Bond villain moment and blabs to Bartlett. Bartlett’s tied up, but it’s not going to last. Perry’s out of commission this issue, presumably for a return next. Oh, there’s some stuff with the bad vampire family fighting cops and whatnot, but it’s…

It’s a perfectly good issue of Redneck. It reads a little fast, but it’s a perfectly good comic. But, damn, do I not like the cliffhanger. Vampires or not, Cates finds a way to put the likable cast members–all two of them–in danger. That danger isn’t the problem. It’s the balls Cates has going in…

Redneck starts its second arc jumping eight months ahead from the previous issue. The family is in hiding. JV is on guard duty 24/7, Bartlett is on punishment (of sorts), Perry is cheating at cards. New vampire Landry is learning the ropes but still not particularly welcome. There’s a lot of exposition in the comic.…

Redneck finishes its first arc with a whole lot of exposition. Cates basically uses the final third of the comic to do a pitch for the next arc, without revealing anything about it except who’s going to be in it. Estherren does get a nice action scene to do, but not even all of it.…

Cates brings Redneck around almost immediately in this issue. He gets the sense of urgency back. He gets the character dynamic back–Bartlett needs someone to talk off, it doesn’t work with the kid. It’s like Cates needs there to be conflict to get character development. Great art from Estherren; Redneck’s exciting again.

A flashback issue. Vampires in the Old West. Only, not much of them because–besides an initial battle scene, with the characters narrating from the present–Cates writes the rest of it as summary. It’s all right–great characterization for the narration–but it doesn’t give Estherren much to do. Western adventure it isn’t. Turns out Cates isn’t ready…

Redneck is just getting better, which is sort of surpising given–while good, Cates didn’t seem too focused on mythology building. Even here, when he lays some of the groundwork for a reveal, it’s subtle. It’s in the dialogue, more for fleshing out characters than exposition; only then it turns out to be a very big…

It’s an intense issue. Cates has a nice way of foreshadowing–Redneck, with one exception, is basically a one-set play here, and Cates positions characters throughout the set and the present action in sublime ways. Estherren stumbles a few times. He doesn’t do well with the arguing scenes, like he’s getting bored of the talking heads,…

Texican Gothic with vampires. Donny Cates does this drawling narration for the book, which has a family of rural Texas vampires trying to get by. Some have Jesus, some don’t. One of them might have turned into Nosferatu but with wings. Vampires can get drunk on paint thinner, which is a neat detail. It’s a…