Fatale #8 – Review

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

The Story: Nick realizes that he met Jo a lot earlier than he thought, Suzy discovers Jo’s secret, and apparently Jo’s enemies are just as enduring and tenacious as she is.

The Review:  Fatale is a very unique Brubaker/Phillips joint.  It’s not only the generic question, with that heavy element of Lovecraftian horror (and boy, we get a heavy dose of that this month) but also the way the narration is structured.  With a lot more issues to work with, Fatale is in many ways a more leisurely read, one that takes its time and sets a very controlled pace.   What keeps this from being decompressed and boring, however, is that this pace allows Brubaker to insert a lot of moving parts, so much so that it can be difficult to keep track of everything if you’re reading the book monthly; it’s a book that really makes you think as it immerses you in its world.

As such, when you get an issue like this that starts making connections, it’s an extremely satisfying experience.  With this story-arc taking place in a different time period from arc prior, it’s really a lot of fun seeing Brubaker make strong connections and links between them.  There’s a strong sense that everything is related and nothing in the comic happens or is present “just cuz.”

WCBR’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best of the past week – Wolverine and the X-Men #17 – Amazing.  The AvX tie-ins stop and Wolvie & the X-Men goes right back to the top of the list.  This was just golden and will probably be one of my “issues-of-the-year” whenever we get around to making our year-end lists.  Even if you aren’t a huge X-Men fan and haven’t been reading this series, you still owe it to yourself to read this hysterical done-in-one issue about what Doop really does for the X-Men.

Most anticipated this week: 1). Fashion Beast #2 – The wonderful thing about an Alan Moore scripted comic is that it will try to be great.  It may not always reach the heights he intended, but he’s never attaching his name to a comic just because it’s that time of the month and a comic must come out.  Even though this series is adapted from a screenplay Moore wrote in the mid-1980s, you can still see his hand in the work.  It has his name on the cover and Moore isn’t out doing interviews about how he doesn’t approve of the project, so you know he favors it.  Plus, I think artists work harder on a Moore project because they don’t want to displease The Bearded One….not because he might yell at them, but because they admire him.

2). Creepy #10 – Even though Dark Horse hasn’t been giving us the highest quality on recent installments of Creepy, I will remain optimistic.  There’s always room for a black-and-white, horror anthology on my pull list.  Hopefully some of the new material can hang with the reprinted classic material this time.

3). Sweet Tooth #38 – I guess we’re down to 3 issues left (including this one).  So, we should start to see some resolution of the supporting characters in this issue and perhaps the outline of the final conflict.  This has been a great series and I’m sad to see it ending.

4). Avengers vs. X-Men #12 – Even though AvX has been a pretty crappy event and even though Marvel has lined up all kinds of “aftermath” miniseries, I’m still eager to see what happens at the end.   I’m not much interested in the Marvel NOW, so this issue is kinda like visiting an old sick relative in the hospital to see if they can tell me ONE more cool story before they die.

– Dean Stell

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Alex’s Top Picks

Pick of the Week: The Punisher #16 – Greg Rucka’s ongoing Punisher series ends in a showcase of everything that made it good, showing us a Frank Castle with compassion, but also a Castle that is myth made flesh.  It’s hard to believe, but this was an incredibly gripping, sincere, human, and heartfelt work….and it’s a Punisher comic.  I look forward to whatever Rucka and Checchetto do next.  Rucka will always be auto-buy for me and I hope Checchetto, once his current family issues are resolved, gets some big, high-profile work in the near future.

Most Anticipated:  Fatale #8 – Month in and month out, Brubaker are delivering high quality comics with Fatale.  It’s one of those sure thing books with rock solid consistency:  you know exactly what you’re going to get every month and you know it’s going to be damned good.  It’s a pulpy blend of horror/noir brilliance and if you’re not reading it, you should give it a shot.  It’s Brubaker and Phillips’ simultaneously doing something different while doing what they do best.

Avengers vs. X-Men #12 – This probably won’t be the best comic of the week and I’ll admit that it’s sort of ended up in the same predicament as Flashpoint last year:  I’m more excited about the new titles to come than I am the conclusion of the current event.  That said, I am interested to see where things end up and what state the Marvel U, particularly Cyclops, are left in.  So curiosity wins out for me on this one.

Uncanny X-Force #32 – Sort of what I said about Fatale, this book has been extremely consistent in its high-quality for 32 issues, despite the merry-go-round of artists.  Now that it’s been confirmed that #35 is Remender’s last, every issue really counts at this point as we get closer to where Remender intends to leave us.

Swamp Thing #13/Animal Man #13 – Two of DC’s best books by two of its best writers crossing over.  That’s all I need to know, as the much preluded Rotworld finally begins in earnest.  Honestly, I’m just glad zero-month is over so we can get back to the program.

Action Comics #13 – Honestly, I’ve found Morrison’s Action Comics to be woefully mediocre for most of its run, but this month sees the return of Krypto.  I can’t say no that.  I mean….it’s Krypto.

– Alex Evans