Another plan that doesn’t quite go to expectations.
Creative Staff:
Story: Patrick Kindlon
Art: Marco Ferrari
Colors: Patrizia Comino
Letterer: Jim Campbell
What They Say:
While Renny and Marisol argue over which of them is the captive and which is the kidnapper, Robot Paul takes a job at the casino. His manager’s name is Death By Torture Bot, so it’ll be a difficult first day of work. Plus: The Organization answers Renny’s transgression with explosive violence!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With two strong issues behind it the third installment of this series kind of falters just a little bit, though that’s more just in the first read in trying to connect with where it is and what it’s trying to do. Patrick Kindlon maintains the same style and uncertainty to events as we saw previously and relies on a lot of dialogue in a way that might be frustrating in some cases but works really well in full here with these characters. It also succeeds quite clearly thanks to Marc Ferrari’s artwork combined with Comino’s color work as there’s a great dynamic flow to all of this. It’s got a lot of great detail and expression to what they’re all doing that it’s easy to get very caught up in individual panels with just how it unfolds.
Surprisingly, the weaker part for me this time around is what’s going on with Renny and Marisol. I did like seeing her brought into the book the last time around and there’s a history there to work with but the back and forth is almost overdone. It’s one thing when it’s just Renny narrating and going on endlessly but it’s another when they both do it. They do work towards the goal of freeing Loske and all but so much of it is just the uncertainty of who is really in charge of the pairing and who’s captive. All of it provides for the action as they head toward the transport where Loske is and it’s definitely amusing in how they interact since Marisol isn’t one to fall apart like others we’ve seen so far in dealing with him. Of course, it all connects with Robot Paul’s story and that’s where it goes south.
In the attempt to get things figured out when it does come to Loske, Robot Paul heads to the casino in order to seek out a job. It’s fun in this area because they talk about how people realize that they can’t cheat a robot and that’s cut down on things. Robot Paul gets quite the tour of the place and it’s just as wordy as the rest in a fun way as it gets into the details of how it all works, including the torture robot that exists there as the enforcer. There’s a lot of material here for what may feel like a lighter payoff in terms of results but I just like the interactions with the casino manager, Whitey, with Robot Paul in how the interview goes and the results of it all.
In Summary:
While this is mostly an action piece and forward moving semi-montage type of work in the quest to free Loske, it’s one that has a lot going on. There’s a ton of dialogue between the two storylines going on here and some of that may feel overdone at times but it serves well the characters as we know them and it reveals plenty about them and their situations. It’s fun even if it doesn’t move at a fast pace that you’d expect for a segment like this and it fits in with the greater whole. Kindlon and Ferrari are definitely having a blast here and it’s very easy to get caught up in all of it.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: AfterShock Comics
Release Date: November 14th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
