5 out of 5

I think Michel Fiffe called it “fight comics” or something like that.  Whatever Revenger is – reveling in exploitation, as Stephen Bissette mentions on the back – it’s awesome, and made awesomer by its ridiculous ante-up in its final issue.

‘Revenger’ can apparently be summoned by 1-800-Revenge; a stoic black dame with a cropped haircut and leather jacket and a scar, haunted by dreams of a child we are to suppose is no longer with her and set upon a quest to punish the guilty, whomever they may be.  In ‘Children of the Damned,’ it’s Mr. Groan and his cronies at the Hotel Neptune, so let’s spend five issues with Revenger kicking her way through various asses.

Forsman’s style is appreciably raw, matching the late nite grindhouse vibe of the production; his foreshortening is ridiculously exacerbated, such that fists wind up in giant size before slamming into a creep, and his figures hover over a weird valley between realism and, like, CG cutscenes where no one’s eyes quite seem to connect with what they’re looking at.  The latter probably isn’t intended, but it works with the off-kilter sense of reality in Revenger, as does the sleazy but bright color palette.  It’s also one of the few prime examples of how using minimalism – stark panels with sometimes only one set piece to offset whatever violence is occurring – can not come across as just lazy or an artistic limitation: Chuck has a great sense of pacing and layout such that you never feel cheated by the content, despite the art being big and bold and that the issues easily read within a few minutes.

“Fight comics” because, yeah, it doesn’t go much deeper than that.  Sometimes it doesn’t need to.  Forsman knows what he’s aiming for here – something dark with a twisted smile and a lot of bullets – and he executes it with a unique flair.  Trade includes guest pinups that were on the back of the original issues.