GtPGKogPYT4p61R1biicqBXsUzo" /> Google+ Comic Review: Bloodhound: Crowbar Medicine #4 and #5 | I Smell Sheep

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Comic Review: Bloodhound: Crowbar Medicine #4 and #5


BLOODHOUND: CROWBAR MEDICINE #4

Writer: Dan Jolley
Penciller: Leonard Kirk
Inker: Robin Riggs
Colorist: Moose Baumann
Cover Artist: Leonard Kirk
Genre: Superhero, Crime
Publication Date: February 05, 2014

Format: FC, 32 pages; Miniseries
Preview
Cape hunter Travis Clevenger’s biggest case becomes his most personal! As Clev learns the terrible secret behind Dr. Morgenstern’s ability-granting Power Chip, he’s also reeling from the family tragedy it’s caused. All that’s left is the choice between self-destruction and unleashing brutality on a level even Clev’s never reached before!

BLOODHOUND: CROWBAR MEDICINE #5
Writer: Dan Jolley
Penciller: Leonard Kirk
Inker: Robin Riggs
Colorist: Moose Baumann
Cover Artist: Leonard Kirk
Genre: Superhero, Crime
Publication Date: February 05, 2014

Format: FC, 32 pages; Miniseries
Preview
Crowbar Medicine reaches its gut-wrenching climax! Cut off from backup, Clev, Saffron, and uneasy ally Terminus confront the scientist behind the ability-granting Power Chip. Still shaken by personal tragedy, and going up against a trio of Power Chip users at Dr. Morgenstern’s side, Clev is about to take on the most vicious fight of his life!

Clevenger's professional life clashed with her personal life once before, as the one guy on the planet with the wherewithal to contend with full-blown superhumans, and a man now with daughters to care for. The last time they clashed, his family was devastated and he wound up in a supermax prison. Judging by the events of the third issue, history may be about to repeat itself.

The fourth issue reveals Clevenger physically scarred like never before, in the aftermath of seeing one of Morgenstern's vigilante superhumans accidentally kill his youngest daughter. There's no going back from that, and while he isn't the type of guy to wear his heart on his sleeve, his grief looks to take him to a state of mind that will have him letting loose with unbridled fury. The F.B.I. and the rest of the law enforcement know he's bad news and have wiped their hands of him. Well, excerpt for Saffron.

To say that now it's personal would be an understatement of a woeful degree.

When the death scene happened in the third issue, I half-expected a soap opera attempt at emotional turmoil. But this is Dan Jolley writing and he doesn’t seem too interested in writing schmaltz. And Clevenger seems so out of place wallowing in grief. Well, these final two issues graphically depict just how little he wallows, and just how little he cares for his own well-being in seeking out Morgenstern.

Without giving away how this five-part series wraps up, I will say it provides a clear portrait of Clevenger's mindset. Even when pushed to the extreme, he is undeterred. Even when everything crashes down around him, he just keeps getting up and doing the one thing he seems born to do: stomp superhumans. It doesn't end pretty for him, and it should have been clear to readers from the get-go that a happy ending wasn't in the cards, but the ending we are given seems well-suited for a character like Clevenger.


4 1/2 Sheep




Gef Fox
http://waggingthefox.blogspot.com/

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