3 out of 5

Four one-shots.  I was going to break down the ratings here, but to be honest, they’re all somewhat average – issue 12 and 13, the non-Jo books, are exceptions, slightly better as individual tales, but the need to wedge them into Fatale continuity sort of distills that effect.

Issue 11 gives us a glimpse from the 30s of Josephine discovering the far reaches of her curse, as well as some peculiarities of the ‘hidden worlds’ – as told to her via a boyhood tale from a pulp writer she’s tracked down.  In the editorial, Brubaker talks about how he’d been kicking around the shell of the story for a bit, and unfortunately, it shows: wedging the haunted past of this writer into the story of tentacle-headed demons and Fatale’s magical ‘book’ MacGuffin makes it feel like less of a self-contained one-shot and more of a side story.  It’s unclear why Brubaker found the need to include Jo; the following one shots all have ‘Fatale’s’ as their focus, so perhaps he would just feel guilty about focusing on the writer without reason.  But that’s exactly what the series is lacking – a sense of mythology instead just a veil of horror over noir; unable to step away from Josephine or a core structure belies a rigidity that doesn’t let the world evolve.  And the ‘subplot’ of a police officer also obsessed with Josephine is pure Brubaker: pointless details only included to allow something else to happen later (which it does, in book 14).  This might sound like a dumb criticism, as most things assumedly have to happen in sequence to get from one plot point to the next in any story… but there’s a skill to making this seem natural, and Ed doesn’t always hit that mark.

Issue 12 steps back to medieval times for an early version of the cult we’ve seen and a witch – with assumedly the same curse as Jo – finding respite, for once, at a cabin in the woods with an old man.  This is the best of the bunch because the book’s involvement doesn’t seem quite so much a re-purposed device as in book 11 (it’s mostly just an epilogue note, allowing the story to actually stand on its own) and we feel for both characters, as there’s some precious down time that none of the other Fatale issues have had..

Issue 13 is a bit too packed but equal to 12.  This time in the Old West, another Fatale, another gathering of cultists.  The gal is tough and brittle in this, willfully using her powers to excel at bank robbery and such, so, smartly, Ed flipped the tables and has a professor and an Indian – both of whom can resist her charms – take the girl in and teach her a thing or two about what she may be or why.  A lot happens in its pages, including a funny twist that deserved a longer buildup, and it ends somewhat flatly, but it’s still more fulfilling than the Jo issues, at its core harkening back to a Vertigo-esque feel instead of the occasionally forced brusqueness of Brube’s ‘Criminal’-type worlds.

And then to issue 14… which should be our payoff, picking up some obviously planted seeds from issue 11 and showing us how Jo met Walt from the first arc during WWII.  I… don’t understand why this wasn’t given its own arc.  This book could’ve been all money; this could’ve been the penultimate arc to build to, secrets revealed, but instead it stands as further evidence as to why I’m just not in on this ride anymore: because its not really about the story, it’s just about vibe, to the extent that we’re going to toss all of these details out as quick as possible so that we can continue Fatale-ing everything.  I should clarify that issue 14 isn’t horrible – by any means – it’s just frustrating that ‘mysteries’ are resolved in a panel, and several in one book.

Phillips art… I keep saying is consistent.  No change there.  And furthermore, I’m realizing that some of the patience I thought I was seeing in larger panels is down to who’s coloring.  Dave Stewart (issue 11) lets Sean’s sketchiness go full-on, fluffing up his blacks and leaving them rough.  But overall, I prefer Elizabeth Breitweiser, who took over with issue 12, as she tightens up some sections without it losing Sean’s flavor at all.

I think Brubaker working the Fatale gists into one-shots is an awesome concept, but it would have been more successful had he separated it from the main storyline even more, using it as buffer instead of filler.  Alas, since he did mention (in the editorials) that writing these was fun but difficult, it makes me wonder if he’ll end up focusing on the main story from here on out.