By Brandy Dykhuizien. Our Week In Review sums up our weekly comic book coverage while taking time for a new review or two before it’s all over. Did we miss your favorite books this week? Well. This is where you need to be.
Violent Love #7
Image Comics/$3.99
Written by Frank J. Barbiere.
Art by Victor Santos.
BD: Frank Barbiere’s crime spree love story hurtles forward at breakneck speed. Banks are robbed in a flurry, revenge simmers just below the surface. While Daisy and Brock have business to tend to, Daisy will never lose sight of her raison d’être: bringing down the monsters who took her father away from her.
She shuns an arm’s dealer’s suggestion for a silencer, because she wants it to be loud. Shock and awe are the name of the game here, and Victor Santos follows suit with his compelling, clear-as-day panels. The violence is never grotesque, but it’s palpable. One page sees a thug smash a mirror with his bare hands, as small, cut-away panels fall from the top of the page, mimicking the shards of glass dripping from the blood on Johnny Nails’ ample fists. The force and chaos of such a self-destructive tantrum is fully felt. We know this guy means business.
Elsewhere, Santos makes incredible use of negative space, melting brooding faces into the shadows of window blinds striped across their visage, or sending bodies flying towards the blinding white light of death. It’s the latter technique that is most poignant, as all color and attitude is stripped away from tough-as-nails Daisy Jane. She blasts through the air like a lightening bolt, and we’re left wondering: “Is this finally gonna be it for her?”
Inspired by true events, Violent Love is a classic American love story of sorts. Star-crossed sweethearts carve out a path of their own with confidence to spare. Not playing by the rules hits on a type of collective romanticism that Barbiere and Santos capture beautifully. This is a series definitely worth your time.
8 out of 10
From earlier this week —
REQUIRED READING: Read ‘The Dregs’, a pulp noir that may be the best book of the year
UNDERCOVER: Here are six covers from this week that we can’t live without
STAFF PICKS: Shadows, witches, and escape artists populate this week’s must reads
Hail to the King — CASUAL WEDNESDAYS WITH DOOMROCKET
Exclusive Preview: The Super-Kids are here and it’s gonna get weird in ‘Justice League’ #27
Settle down, people — ‘BUG!’ was never cancelled
King, Gerads, and Cowles’ ‘Mister Miracle’ dazzles on an intimate scale
The ‘Gotham Academy: Second Semester’ finale is here, and it hurts
What books did YOU read this week? We want to know! Tell us about those feelings of yours in the comments section below.
