4 out of 5

More fast and furious world building from Mills, striking a great balance between the fantasy / history obsessions of Slaine and his slicker action-focused works.

Finn, by day, is a taxi driver, though you don’t see too much of that in this volume.  Was it better established in book one?  Don’t know, don’t care.  I run hot and cold with Mills’ writing, but I do have a growing appreciation for his idea-vomit that’s produced plenty of notable characters in his career.  His weaving of researched elements with whimsy and these fully formed in-story theologies is impressive; it’s also hilarious how much he can dump into his pages while things still come across as sort of tongue-in-cheek and clunky.  I realize it’s a back-handed compliment but it’s not meant to be.  It’s truly impressive how he’s able to write violence- and sex-soaked tales with ham-fisted narration and yet, when you start considering the collection of elements supporting those tales, you realize that Pat is more than an idea man, and that he must’ve drafted this out in some way to present it so assuredly on the page.  …By night, Finn is the representative of some kind of demon coven, who are fighting against angels, who are actually bad guys, and who are all maybe aliens.  How was that established in book one?  Was it?  Don’t know, don’t care.  Jim Elston and Kevin Wicks painted art looks amazing, much more lively than the norm for painted art (or water colors, or whatever these glowing blends are) – very much Comic Book first and then painterly aspirations second, only meaning that A+ comic paneling and composition aren’t sacrificed to match that photographed pose you’re painstakingly trying to capture.

Sure, there’s some weird story bloat that takes up a prog or two that I can’t say for sure was needed to get Finn from point A to point Saving The World, but it doesn’t really slow down the read, only makes you wonder if there was a point to that issue.  Regardless, Finn is my first Mills read – and perhaps I should be crediting Tony Skinner, then, with keeping Pat in line – that I didn’t feel like there were story elements (the politics, the fantasy, whatever) that I just didn’t vibe with.  It’s weird, and quirky, and interesting, and maybe I’ll have to pick up a back issue to do Book One, dangit.