3 out of 5

The storyline is more consistent in this bundle, but it still is lacking that freshness that once came guaranteed in each issue.

Mostly tying up loose ends.

Issue 24 tells us the backstory of the woods and why / how they’ve cursed the town.  A valid tale, told in Powell’s sketchy sepia flashbacks, but more wood into the fire that flames Eric’s bumpy narrative skills; as though at some point he decided that he needed to justify the endless misery surrounding the Goon, then had an idea for a curse from the woods being the cause, then came up with the story of the curse… then inserted that story into the middle of another tale.  It’s really not important to know at this point, and, again, could’ve been better served either fleshed out or not presented as a midpoint in a longer story, which suggests it’s a relative plot point when it’s really not.

Issue 25 is a sorta silly ‘Goon leaves town and then decides to come back and beat people up’ heart-warmer, and it’s got a pretty awesome climax (‘The war starts now!’), but since we recently came off of Chinatown where Goon also does a leave-and-come-back bit, that aspect of the story seemed questionable.  Like it was really just a setup for the climax.  (…It was.)

26 has the Goon crew hunting down a traitor, which gives the always hilarious Nagle some panel-time and sends the Bastards off on a pretty funny mole hunt.  …Catching up with the traitor, though, descends into the now typical gloomy overkill.

And 27 is a bit of a balls issue.  The first few pages give us some background on Mother Corpse – this abbreviated story-telling is what Powell had done so well previously, and shows that, perhaps, when given a forced page limitation, some of the pacing hiccups that have cropped up wouldn’t be so notable – and then the rest of the issue is handed over to other artists / authors for fill-in gag bits.  Which aren’t un-amuing, but you’re buying the book ’cause it’s Powell, and thus to have most of the pages not be Powell… hm.

However, if this is the move Eric chose (Ish 24 had a fill-in as well) to allow him to spruce up the art a bit, then overall, it was a wise decision – while this collection is perhaps a bit shorter on content than the previous bundles, in the midst of Goon Year, ish’s 24 – 27 showed a significant uptick in consistency of quality, and a return of more exciting artwork.  And this accessibility is what keeps it entertaining.