Loose Ends #2 – Review

By: Jason Latour (writer), Chris Brunner (artist) & Rico Renzi (colorist)

The Story: A series of flashbacks gives us more details on our protagonists.

What’s Good: If there was a minor nagging complaint from Loose Ends #1 (which I loved), it was that you left the issue a little unsure about what was going on.  Sure, we’d been treated to a superb comic that featured a gritty come-apart in a roadside honky-tonk, but it wasn’t that clear who these characters were, what they were up to, whether they knew each other, etc.  To some extent, that shows some of the silliness of reviewing single-issue comics because I’m sure the creators sit there, reading the reviews and think, “Sheesh…how about wait for the second issue, guy!”  because things are clearer after a second issue.

This issue again features really stunning art by the team of Chris Brunner and Rico Renzi.  What’s amazing about the art is that is uses a technique that I don’t generally like that much (dot-overlay) to make the flashbacks clear.  Then Renzi colors these flashbacks with a uniform amber that allows Brunner’s inks to just sing.  It’s just a great example of a colorist not gooping up nice art.  THEN, when we get to the more present-day scenes, the colors are all kinds of bright and alive.  The art in Loose Ends is glorious.

And, I’m enjoying the story too.  Part of this issue is a flashback to a bunch of these characters as high school kids.  It allows you to see how they all fit together and really makes some of the events of issue #1 take on greater depth.  What’s cool about this scene is that the information isn’t just served up on a platter for you as I was repeatedly flipping back to check someone’s name from an earlier page.  It was a lot like a puzzle as the pieces snapped into place.  This is a dangerous trick for creators to try because if the comic isn’t captivating, the reader isn’t going to care enough to do the work.  But, Latour, Brunner & Renzi have made such an electric comic that the adventure is awfully fun.

Seeing how this flashback tied up some loose ends also gives me greater hope for the opening scene.  It shows a drug-land shootout that is gritty as hell.  I’ve got zero clue what was going on in this scene, but having see how neatly other scenes are being explained, I’m very confident it’ll all turn out.