3 out of 5

With an opening line like “Nurse, this baby was born mean,” a book can’t be all bad, right?

Kyle Starks’ injects just enough restraint and heart into his “just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in” ex-assassin redemption tale, starring the be-scarred and be-Plisskened Shane Sexcastle as the man of a thousand kills who’s moved to a small town to grow flowers, to prevents its language and violence excesses from edging into gluttonous overkill.  I mean, it is overkill – that’s part of the point – but there’s Mark Millar’s dunderheaded version of that and then there’re people who know how to keep their neck above the dreck waterline.

Stark has gotten a ton better at this kind of thing – both in terms of art and plot – since Sexcastle; to be frank, if this was my first exposure (Rock Candy Mountain was), I’d find it amusing but likely not worth keeping, the way the story jumps right into its tropes without justifying its stakes makes its sudden fight explosions lack the impact they need, especially evident in the way that the nine assassins who track down Sexcastle (and are, of course, summarily slaughtered) are given like a retroactive pecking order which isn’t otherwise introduced, i.e. and now the ULTIMATE BADGUY who was just another name in a list a page ago…  The choreography is also stiff.  The point definitely gets across, but Kyle’s acting and framing in RCM is leagues beyond this.

Nonetheless, the book is undeniably fun, with plenty of lines and concepts to make you chuckle (and wish they were seated within overall stronger material), and despite my plotting criticisms, Kyle has a good sense of general pacing, creating a good story-to-fight ratio.

Printed in a handy 9″ x 6″ fun-size.  Don’t you want a book on your shelf that says Sexcastle on the spine?