by Eli Katz » Sat Jan 21, 2012 3:21 pm
This is a great issue. We've known for a while about the creepy old man. So it's great to see Jack finally know as much as the reader does. I think this issue is about as suspenseful as a comic can be. If this were a movie, I would have been jumping out of my chair. When the old creep turns off the road and says, "Sometimes I lose my temper … it won’t happen again," it took all my self-control to read each panel fully and not flip ahead.
Still, Snyder refuses to resolve all the mysteries and continues to keep us dangling by a thread or two. I'm curious to learn who and what this creepy guy is. He could be just a cannibal with carefully filed teeth, but he could also be some vampire-type creature. I'm also curious to learn why he didn't eat Jack right away. What's the reason for drawing this out?
The art is strong, as usual, in this issue. I love the level of realism in each panel. It creates a very vivid, nightmarish world. I feel as though Bernie Wrightson is working on this book. And that full-page panel of the old guy with his fangs and axe … just stunning!
STORY: 9
ART: 9
OVERALL: 9