GtPGKogPYT4p61R1biicqBXsUzo" /> Google+ Comic Review: The White Suits issues #1-3 | I Smell Sheep

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Comic Review: The White Suits issues #1-3



THE WHITE SUITS #1
Writer: Frank Barbiere

Artist: Toby Cypress
Cover Artist: Toby Cypress
Genre: Action/Adventure, Crime
Dark Horse
Publication Date: February 19, 2014
Format: FC, 32 pages; Miniseries
Price: $3.99
UPC:7 61568 24061 0 00111
Preview
Mysterious killers dressed in white, they savaged the Cold War Russian underworld—then disappeared. Now they have resurfaced in New York, leaving a trail of dead mobsters. In this bloody wake, an amnesiac and an FBI agent search for the answer to a single question: Who are the White Suits?
* Debuted in the award-winning Dark Horse Presents.
* Violent noir action from Frank Barbiere (Blackout) and TobyCypress (Blue Estate, Predator).


THE WHITE SUITS #2
Writer: Frank Barbiere
Artist: Toby Cypress
Cover Artist: Toby Cypress
Genre: Action/Adventure, Crime
Dark Horse
Publication Date: March 19, 2014
Format: FC, 32 pages; Miniseries
Price: $3.99
UPC:7 61568 24061 0 00211
Preview
The White Suits, scourges of Russia’s underworld, have declared war on New York’s organized crime. But NYC’s crime overlords have their own army of Russian mercenaries hunting the Suits, with FBI agent Sarah Anderson and the former Suit known as Prizrak certain to be caught in the crossfire!

WHITE SUITS #3
Writer: Frank Barbiere
Artist: Toby Cypress
Cover Artist: Toby Cypress
Genre: Action/Adventure, Crime
dark Horse
Publication Date: April 16, 2014
Format: FC, 32 pages; Miniseries
Price: $3.99
UPC:7 61568 24061 0 00311
Mob war erupts in Chinatown! In a desperate final gambit, New York’s criminal underworld and their Russian mercenaries draw the murderous White Suits into a deadly ambush, with ex-Suit Prizrak and FBI agent Sarah Anderson as hostages. With no way out but death, who will survive the “Kill Box”?
* Violent noir action from Frank Barbiere (Blackout, Five Ghosts) and Toby Cypress (Blue Estate, Predator).

I was in the mood for some saw-toothed action when I decided to read the first three issues of this Dark Horse mini-series, and by god I got it.

Set in New York City, the various gangs have come under siege. An almost mythical threat has arrived on the grimy streets, known as the White Suits. As ruthless as the organized crime of the world's largest city is, they're downright fluffy soft compared to the buzzsaw-caliber quickness by which the White Suits decimate their numbers.

Amid the violence is a down-and-out FBI agent named Anderson, whose father was killed by the White Suits, and she's sworn revenge against them by any means, which puts her at odds with her bosses and sees her enlisting the help of a man named Prizrak, an amnesiac mercenary once associated with the mysterious killers.

The story feels murky at times, much like Prizrak's memory, with no hint of motivation behind the White Suits. They can mow down the gangs, so they do, while the gangs scramble like ants to keep from being trampled. And when mercenaries are brought in to protect the gangs, I immediately thought of Kick-Ass and how the Motherfucker got a bunch of mercenaries to protect him against Kick-Ass and the cops. Only in White Suits, the consequences feel a little more rooted in reality, albeit a blood-soaked one.
As for the artwork, it has a manic vibe that makes each three-color page just electric to the eyes. If you're hardwired for the clean, crisp lines of superhero comics, White Suits is going to beat your expectations into the dirt with 2X4 wrapped in barbed-wire. And when the violence hits manic levels, the illustrations take on an almost psychotropic quality.

I'm really curious to see how the fourth and final issue plays out on this revenge thriller. It has a lot to answer for in that one issue, so I'm hoping it pulls things off without leaving too many loose strings.


4 1/2 Sheep




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