Fatale #5 – Review

By: Ed Brubaker (writer), Sean Phillips (art), and Dave Stewart (colors)

The Story: Battles rage in secret tunnels under the city with cultists and Cthulian squid-men aplenty.

The Review:  One of the things that has made Fatale such an alluring series is the constant sense of horrible, unknown things lurking just beyond what we know or are aware of in the comic.  This month, in the final issue of the first storyarc, Brubaker lets us peek behind the curtain.  In other words, we actually get to see the cultist society in action, we get to see the secret tunnels that exist beneath the city, and we get to see Bishop’s true face.  Thus far, we’ve only really seen the surface levels with hints of Lovecraftian hoodoo below, but here, Brubaker lets us see what lurks beneath.  There’s a sense in which Brubaker is letting us see what he’s been hiding from us for the past few months, only ever letting us use our imaginations, and the result is immensely satisfying.

Moreover, this issue works so well because of the complete difference in pacing.  When the horrors beneath the surface of the city and the powers of Bishop were only ever hinted at, the series felled taut and controlled.  Now, however, that we’ve stepped behind, or rather below, the curtain, that control is completely lost.  Action and violence abound and what we get is 27-pages of non-stop thrills, twists, and excitement.  It’s an absolutely wild read completely juxtaposed to the past few issues.  The fascade of hints, dread, and control has been lifted and instead, Brubaker and Phillips immerse in a breathless frenzy of mayhem.

WCBR’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best of the past week: Mind the Gap #1 – Admittedly, it wasn’t the strongest week in comics history, and that’s allowed a comic that wasn’t “awesome” to win honors.  But….that’s how it goes sometimes.  It looks like Jim McCann and Rodin Esquejo have a nice, longer-form mystery to tell us and I’m personally looking forward to it.  This comic has three things that set it apart:  (a) wonderful art, (b) a sense of freshness and (c) not knowing what will happen next.  Runner-up: X-Factor #235 – Talk about running against the grain!  There are no characters I “love” in X-Factor.  The art is a little spotty sometimes.  It is never central to any big Marvel stories.  And….I’ve been trying to convince myself to drop X-Factor for years, but every month Peter David writes an interesting and compelling tale that keeps the series on my pull list AND makes me wonder why I keep it on such a short leash.

Most anticipated this week: The Walking Dead #97 – It’s amazing how much I still anticipate this comic after nearly 100 issues.  As much as I’ve criticized it during reviews for “nothing happening”, I KNOW that I’ll be downloading this onto my iPad and furiously reading it during lunch on Wednesday.  This issue probably won’t feature anything HUGE (as the big events will likely be saved for issue #100), but we should be starting to see the basic shape of whatever horrifying things are to come.  My anticipation is also increased by the fact that last issue was a big improvement over the series’ recent form.

Other picks: Batman #9, I Zombie #25, Morning Glories #18, Takio #1, Wolverine and the X-Men #10

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Alex’s Top Picks

Pick of the Week: Invincible Iron Man #516 – This book has been on fire lately, even if no one seems to have noticed.  Exciting, high-stakes, and character work that leaps off the page for both the good guys and the bad guys.  This is Iron Man at its finest with energy to spare.

Most Anticipated: Uncanny X-Force #25 – Rick Remender begins a big new arc of X-Force.  That alone should excite.  This promises to be more than the Otherworld “breather” (by X-Force standards).  This is also the first issue that’ll see Mike McKone on art and the preview pages have already shown that that’s as awesome as it sounds.

Other Picks: Batman #9, Demon Knights #9, Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE #9, Green Lantern #9, Fatale #5, Captain America #11, Journey into Mystery #637, New Avengers #26, Punisher #11,  Wolverine & the X-Men #10