A dark road of vengeance.
Creative Staff:
Story: Paul Cornell
Art: Sally Cantirino
Colors: Dearbhla Kelley
Letterer: Andworld
What They Say:
In Jacey’s past is the Important Man who took away her brother. Now Jacey has David, who sometimes transforms into a terrifying beast. Together, they’ve found a way to live to hunt, sniffing out men who prey on the vulnerable. But Jacey and David are about to run into the Important Man again. From Paul Cornell (Wolverine, Doctor Who, Elementary) and Sally Cantirino (Last Song, We Have To Go Back) comes a haunting story about the monsters that walk beside us all, and sometimes lurk within.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
One of the things I’ve missed in the last few years is having a new Paul Cornell series to read. With time spent on some non-comics work, it’s a welcome return to the medium here for me with this series as it digs into the right kind of disturbing material with more to it. There’s a good bit of setup here and lots of inferring of events that makes it a lot of fun and it’s something that Sally Cantirino pulls together beautifully here. There’s a good mix of the kind of rough ugliness of the world design to what we get with it and a world-weary aspect that really hits the right sweet spot. Cantirino’s design and aesthetic here along with Dearbhla Kelley’s always spot-on color design is perfect for this work.
The premise works a bit of past and present into events so that we get a handle on our leading character, a young woman named Jacey. We see that she had a rough upbringing with a cruel and disturbing man as her father, or father figure at least, who would bring people to the farm for a while to work before finding them a better place to go. What that meant to a young Jacey wasn’t clear but it wasn’t good. We see this through a young man named Eric that worked the farm for a bit but once he started to eye Jacey, well, he found himself a new place to be. And, as we follow along, it’s not that much later before her brother disappears, though that involves him being given to a politician for dark deeds. Suffice to say, it’s easy to see the scars that have been left on Jacey over the years and why her older self, still a teenager by appearances, is working a darker path.
It’s this version of her that is seeking the nameless man that took her brother and dealing with eliminating bad men along the way. She places herself in positions where she’s a tempting treat to these evil people and allows herself to be captured so they can be eliminated. That comes through the man named David that she’s working with, a man who roleplays as her father in order to travel around. But David is something more as well as we see him turn into a demonic creature that kills easily and brutally for her because the targets are very much justified. It’s disturbing what David is able to do, and how calm and collected Jacey is over it, which definitely has me eager to see how this relationship came together and what it is that’s truly bonding them together as it’s clear that David isn’t keen on doing this constantly.
In Summary:
With it playing in the field of dark and disturbed men that need to be dealt with, it’s a very familiar genre and one that has been mined a lot. Paul Cornell, however, sets us onto an interesting path with it as we’re introduced to Jacey and David and what they’re doing and hints of why. This feels like a very smooth and accessible book for Cornell and it definitely leaves you wanting to see more of what’s going to happen. Cantirino’s artwork is fantastic here as colored by Kelley and I love the character designs and especially the settings and locations which show some intriguing personality to a lot of it. I’m hopeful that there’s something really big coming down the line for this story as the potential is most definitely there.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Vault Comics
Release Date: November 25th, 2020
MSRP: $3.99
