Sweet Tooth #32 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (writer & artist), Jose Villarrubia (colors), Carlos M. Mangual (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Mark Doyle (editor).

The Story: In the finale of Unnatural Habitats, Gus is forced to grow up and take action to save his friends.

A few things: 

Go hockey! – The entire time I’ve read Sweet Tooth, it’s struck me how much Mr. Jepperd looks like some of the characters from Jeff Lemire’s Essex County (and if you haven’t read Essex County, snap to it!).  So, it was super-cool to see hockey make an appearance in this issue after figuring so strongly in EC.  Seeing the skates and sticks had a certain, “Hell yeah!” about it, but what really made it special was what a change up it was for the series.  Thus far, Sweet Tooth has been nothing but sadness and strangers working together to survive.  The pre-apocalypse world is so far gone that these aren’t even the same people as whenever the plague hit.  But suddenly we see two old acquaintances find each other through hockey and all the distrust simply washes away; they’re pals lacing up skates to go save the day.  I guess it’s just nice to see a moment of happiness in Sweet Tooth and a reminder that these folks can be human again.

Really good sequential artwork by Lemire. – It’s easy to get lost in the haunting aspects of Lemire’s artwork and lose track of how good he is as a sequential artist.  The opening sequence shows Gus & Bobby executing a plan to save some friends.  It’s kinda a tricky scene and Lemire pulls it off really well.  You can follow the plan, step-by-step.  Each panel illustrates a step of the plan and Lemire focuses on giving us the information we need rather than fussing around with a pretty splash page that wouldn’t be as educational.

Touching death. – For an piece of apocalypse fiction, there isn’t a lot of death in Sweet Tooth (compared to a series like The Walking Dead).  So, when we do lose a character in this issue, it’s pretty touching.  You really feel for the rest of the group too.  Sweet Tooth is such a lonely place and here was a friend and companion leaving them.  It really feels like the group is one smaller now.  It’s probably not as sad as a few other climaxes in this series (Jepperd’s son!), but it was a definite punch in the gut.

WCBR’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: The Unwritten #35.5 – What a great issue this was!  It gave us a chance to see the events of The Unwritten since the beginning of the series through the eyes of a “henchman”.  This dude is just a guy who has a job working for the bad guys, but he isn’t evil himself and he’s hardly in on any of the nefarious schemes from The Cabal.  Hence, it offered us a very grounded view of the action through the eyes of this Everyman.  But, not only is it a recap, it gives us a lot of insights into how The Cabal operates and how their story-based technology functions.  As this series gets close to its fourth year, it is just getting stronger.  Runner-up: Elephantmen #38

Most Anticipated: Sweet Tooth #32 – Two big cliffhangers remaining from last time.  How will Jepperd get out of his jam?  Is Gus about to go all Rambo and save his friends?  In a week where nothing else is really standing out, mostly because Marvel is telling a lot of stories that don’t stick to my brain after I finish the issue, I’m very curious to see what is going on in Jeff Lemire’s bleak, post-apocalyptic world.  Is this series wrapping up?  Is it just hitting a mid-30’s stride (like The Unwritten)?

Other Picks: Creepy #8, I Zombie #24, Glamourpuss #24, Amazing Spider-Man #683, Wolverine and the X-Men #8

Alex’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Avengers vs. X-Men #1 – Yes, it’s not “supposed” to come out until this week, but I read it last week and thoroughly enjoyed it.  A welcome surprise, AvX at this point looks like a big event with an actualy emotional core and meaningful character-work, which was very refreshing.  Bendis and Romita Jr., creators of at times inconsistent quality, are at their very best here.

Most Anticipated: Swamp Thing #8 – As a huge fan of Swampy, it’s hard for me to pick anything else given that awesome final page in last month’s issue.  Swamp Thing is officially back and ready for war and I can’t wait to see what his first course of action is.

Other Picks: Action Comics #8, Animal Man #8, Sweet Tooth #32, Venom #15, Wolverine and the X-Men #8, Brilliant #3, Fatale #4, Daredevil #10.1