Do they pull it off? Do Hine and Kane bring Bulletproof Coffin to the conclusion it deserves?

No.

Do they bring it to a satisfying conclusion?

Definitely.

Does this satisfying conclusion suggest a depth greater than what it actually contains?

Yes. It’s very slick.

The issue’s a great example of why revelations have to be total or not at all. The issue clears up one or two questions, big ones, so it can end nicely—with some jabs at DC ripping off Siegel and Shuster. However, there are a couple other questions they ignore. They even mention one of them in dialogue.

There’s a warning, in dialogue (“Hine” and “Kane” appear in the issue), against layered, meta-fiction in comic books. It’s funny, but it’s not an excuse for not having a better ending.

Overall, the series is good, maybe very good. But if they could have pulled it off….

Hine and Kane seem to be aware they’ve set themselves up for a needing a big, satisfying conclusion… not sure if that awareness makes it more likely or less.

Once again, the layers start folding in on themselves, making it very hard to understand exactly what—if there is a “real” timeline—is going on. Some of the book’s quality comes from how little it matters. The questions and contradictions Kane and Hine raise are often self-serving. They don’t beg for a flat explanation in the final issue.

This issue concerns itself with one item—the location of the creators—something introduced in the cliffhanger to the previous issue (as already having been discovered… sort of). They’re able to make an entire, action-filled issue out of it.

The flashback art is now back to the unlikely (why Kane adds nudity to the Silver Age stuff is beyond me).

And they keep going. Hine and Kane add yet another layer or two to the book, making it nearly impossible to figure things out with maybe charting it.

With only two issues left now, I’m hoping they can pull off a good conclusion. The way they deal with cliffhangers—the series has them now—is nice. It gets resolved in the first third of an issue, then they build to the next one. In other words, they still have room to bring Bulletproof Coffin to a satisfying finish.

This issue also raises a couple other eventual possibilities for the series as an explanation (Hine and Kane seem like they are either going to explain everything or explain nothing… I can’t decide which I’d prefer).

Kane keeps the flashback art more appropriate this time, at least in terms of nudity. He’s basically just retelling and continuing last issue’s story.

Good stuff.

Okay, so Hine and Kane up the ante a little here. This issue takes the meta-fiction aspect of the comic—where the protagonist interacts with the idea of these comic book creators who share their names with the creators of Bulletproof Coffin—to the next level. Not only is the protagonist, in the “real world,” dealing with them, but they reveal this issue so are the characters in the comic books the protagonist is reading.

The development puts Coffin in a precarious position—if Kane and Hine fail to live up to expectations, the book’ll just plummet.

Hine’s narration is fine now. So fine I forgot it was a problem while reading.

The art is good—it’s nice how the stories crossover (the comic in the comic and the regular story) because Kane’s style matches. Though there’s a little too much nudity for a Silver Age book.

Excellent issue.

The second issue doesn’t deal with the first’s soft cliffhanger, so I imagine Hine and Kane have something else planned in regards to the protagonist’s family. I’m just hoping they don’t go Truman Show.

This issue has a flashback comic of a crime series, sort of a proto-Punisher. Oddly, even though the character’s a ghost who kills in horrific ways, the introduction of the supernatural and his tone somehow makes him more pleasant. It’s very well-done old comics stuff, though Kane’s style doesn’t really change between it and the feature (i.e. one would never really think it was from 1959, just based on production values).

Hine’s narration seems stronger this issue too (at least, it doesn’t have any more pitfalls).

The comic takes an unexpected turn at the end—and the title now makes sense, something I was expecting to understand in the first one.

It’s smoothly sailing.

Bulletproof Coffin is strange. Hine and Kane set it up as a thriller, possibly a superhero book, definitely with some horror and sci-fi elements. It also ends with the implied scene the protagonist’s sons are going to be mask-wearing psychopaths.

There’s also the meta-fiction aspect—Hine and Kane are off-panel characters in the story, they produced great comics in the sixties before Hine sold out (of course, Hine works for DC and Marvel too, I think). Bulletproof Coffin is definitely very thoughtful and it’s hard to think anything occurs without a definite purpose. By keeping that purpose obscured (the first issue reveals nothing), it gets up one’s hopes Hine and Kane won’t do something stupid.

Kane’s art is sinister and bright. The Silver Age “reprint” in this issue looks great.

Hine brings the problems to the table. Even though it’s intriguing, his narration is occasionally weak.