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Writer: Ryan K. Lindsay
Artist: Sami Kivela
Colorist: Lauren Affe
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
The job of a reporter is to get the story. Challenges can be put in the way, and in Bucky’s case, those challenges include dirty politicians and a hoard of vampires who want him dead. After the literal torture he went through last issue Bucky is taking the fight to them and doing whatever he can to ensure this story gets out.
Step one is to try and rescue the Majoyr’s next victim and he does so in a rather non-discreet fashion. Showing up at her door and burning the vampire evidence right before her. This also gives us one of Sami Kivelä’s best moments of the series thus far as Bucky does a complete 360 in the air to take out a vampire attempting to stop him. It was a rather fluid sequence demonstrating that Bucky is skillful in handling himself.
Throughout this issue, we get a monologue from Bucky as he discusses the processes of ending a story. Some meta elements as this issue is setting up to be the possible conclusion of this tale. Lines like “No One Likes Open and Ongoing Investigations” come off as a bit of foreshadowing regarding how this issue will conclude. We get an ending that leaves plenty of room for this story to continue. More on that later.
READ LAST ISSUE’S REVIEW!
Artist Sami Kivelä has done solid work with this series so far. Drawing an anthropomorphic deer within a world of Vampires and humans is not an easy task. He makes it work including some rather gruesome death scenes. This issue also had the most action by far including car chases and plenty of fisticuffs. Those sequences were short and sweet as the pace kept moving.
I have enjoyed the colors of Lauren Affe as this entire series had this eye-catching blue tint to it. A nice change of pace from the typical black and white associated with noir. The downside is it was difficult to tell if a scene was taking place the night or day. That’s a bit of an issue when your story centers on vampires.
When random characters kept showing up it was unclear if they too were creatures of the night or just random people hired to take out Bucky. I assume the latter but considering the focus on vampires hiding in plain sight it could have been clearer.
Bucky was a beast in this issue, pun intended. He showed that being a deer makes him an ideal vampire hunter. I got similar vibes to I Am Legend in the way this issue plays out. (The book not the movie) As the prey becomes the predator hunting down those that wish to do him harm. At the same time, Bucky is a bit foolish and caught up in the moment missing some major clues regarding what is going on. Seems odd a reporter would not put pieces together of why a woman would be going to the bathroom so often. However, the inner monologue clued is into the fact his mind was someplace else at the moment.
If you read my Top 10 Most Anticipated Comics article this week you would have seen my concern regarding the story’s ability to wrap everything up within this one issue. There appeared to be a lot of story still left to tell. To get around that we got an issue that did not waste a moment. Having Bucky turn the table to bring the fight to the vampire was a great way of solving multiple problems at once. Still, though there are a lot of questions still left unanswered. On top of that, this series was leading to this one particular moment. When this story finally gets told. Watching them do what was needed to get the story worked, but the reveal to the public lacked that emotional catharsis one hopes for.
Perhaps that was purposeful as that is often the case when it comes to news stories. Journalist risk their lives to get a story of immense importance but the public shrugs their shoulders as they swipe to watch the next funny cat video instead. The issue with that is I do not see that case being made within the text. I do get a sense that this is the closing of a chapter of a much larger story.
I for one would be in favor of that because Deer Editor has given us a fresh take the crime genre desperately needs. If these creators have more stories they want to tell I would be there for it. For now, it is an unquestionably successful that takes us on a journey. This feels like it was made by people who love stories of vastly different ilks from The Third Man, to I Am Legend, to Blacksad. Further evidence that variety is the spice of not only life but comics as well.
