4 out of 5

How do I feel about these issues? Is a good question that I theoretically should be able to articulate to you in this review.

The issues are well written and paced, with ace moody art from McCrea, Leach, and Feeny, and serve to further Ennis’ agenda of turning Tommy’s series from stupid crossover event excess into something with a legitimate story and characters.  We’ve already gotten a few serious arcs in a row, but these two issues – Tommy is introduced to the sister he never knew he had, who catches him up on the unfortunate circumstances of his birth, their separation, and the father they’ll be tracking down in Dublin to ‘deal with’ – are the first to be completely devoid of humor, or overt nods to the genre via super powers or the supernatural.

What gives me slight pause is trying to figure out: Does Ennis write strong female characters, or does he more often fridge them?  It’s by no means a poor representation, but the in-and-out nature of this story (heavy things happen, but we emerge with no strings attached) slots its female roles into distinct Ennis variants: the Tulip O’Hare independent woman as Tiegel; the victim – Tommy’s mother; and the bait for the story – Tommy’s sister.  True, these are not the main characters, and it could equally be proposed that most of Ennis’ males fall into a couple of categories, but again, something about the brevity of this arc makes it clear that there’s a difference between showing us a traumatic event, and writing about it.  Which is the fridging element, even though its definitely a more subversive version.

And certainly not intended.

This is heavy stuff for what’s occasionally an outlandish book, and definitely notable.  The, upon analysis, shaky execution prompts the dock of the star – the second issue shuttles through its conclusion a bit too hastily – but this would have been the issues, reading it at time of release, that would’ve made you sit up and watch the book with interest.