Comic Review: X #4

X #4 (of 4)
By: Duane Swierczynski
Artist: Eric Nguyen
Dark Horse Comics 
Publication Date: August 14, 2013

It’s a bloody showdown on Arcadia’s rooftops as X is assaulted by the pig-faced Berkshire, a maniac who can no longer feel physical pain! As Leigh fends off a swarm of the city’s thugs, Berkshire shatters the lock around X’s neck . . . and the mask finally comes off!

Duane Swierczynski and Eric Nguyen have thrown just about everything but the kitchen sink into the first few issues of X, so wasn't quite sure what to expect from the penultimate showdown between the X Killer and the corrupt mayor, Berkshire. I just knew there'd be a lot of blood. Well, even with that in mind, X #4 exceeded expectations.

"Eye Without a Face" starts on the top of a high-rise, with X and Berkshre throwing down, and the pig-faced mayor gettiing the upper hand, since he's spent even more time doing his homework on the masked vigilante than he has been sliced and diced by the crusading psychopath. Meanwhile, Leigh, the activist reporter who helped bring these two warring parties together, is left to fend for herself against the rabid henchmen who want a piece of the action.

There was a metric ton of action in the four issues I read prior to this one (four, since there was a zero issue to kick things off), but it all pales compared to the visceral hatred and violence that has been boiled down to its two key ingredients: X and Berkshire. The history of X's motivations come to bear, though enough is left in the shadows to keep readers coming back for more.With this chapter coming to a close, it will be hard to imagine how Swierczynski and Gnuyen will scoop up what's left of their characters to carry on into the next issue, but I'm keen to find out. X might be the violent--and vital--action comic going in 2013.

review: X #0

review: X #1

review: X #2

review: X #3

5 Sheep

Guest Reviewer: Gef Fox

Wag The Fox: Den for Dark Fiction

Comic Review: X issue #3 by Duane Swierczynski

X #3
Writer: Duane Swierczynski

Artist: Eric Nguyen

Colorist: Michelle Madsen

Cover Artist: Dave Wilkins
Genre: Superhero, Crime
Dark Horse

Publication Date: July 10, 2013

Format: FC, 32 pages; Miniseries

Price: $2.99

UPC:7 61568 22527 3 00311

Preview

The vermin of Arcadia’s underworld chase Leigh into a literal urban maze . . . and what’s waiting at the end ain’t cheese! A revived Berkshire’s got a beautiful new face and an appetite for revenge, mobilizing the entire police force against X.

“Very gritty story here, and that goes for the artwork as well! Bullets flying and blood splattering is on the menu, so if that’s your thing, don’t miss out!”–Comic Attack

Leigh wants answers, but it looks like all X has is a huge chip on his shoulder. In the beginning of this issue, it seems like Leigh is on the X Killer's shit list, already served a photograph with one red slash across her face. A warning, since two red slashes make an X--and an X means you're in the X Killer's crosshairs.

The cat-and-mouse antics between the X Killer and the corrupt mayor and his minions has gone up another notch in this issue, too. That's pretty remarkable considering how absolutely insane the violence has gotten in this series so far. The switch in this issue is that it looks like X is on the run, and the convalescing mayor Berkshire is gradually penning the vigilante in as he focuses on finding Leigh to extract from her X's whereabouts.

I only just realized in reading the letters to the editor at the back of this issue that X had a previous run. I'm not sure what that original series looked like, but it's hard to imagine the original series could be as sharp as this incarnation. Like razor-wire sharp.

Swierczynski has such a keen focus on where the story needs to focus, I'd swear he uses a laser-sight. As for Nguyen's blood-soaked depictions of the action and gritty portraits of what pass for quieter moments in the story are like bear traps for your eyeballs.

There's another showdown brewing for the fourth issue and I have a hunch it's going to be the best one yet.

5 Sheep

Guest Reviewer: Gef Fox

Wag The Fox: Den for Dark Fiction

Sheep Comic Review: X #2

X #2 by Duane Swierczynski
Writer: Duane Swierczynski

Artist: Eric Nguyen

Colorist: Michelle Madsen

Cover Artist:Dave Wilkins

Genre: Crime, Action/Adventure, Superhero
Dark Horse

Publication Date:June 12, 2013

Format:FC, 32 Pages

Price:$2.99

UPC:7 61568 22527 3 00211

Preview

X has a bone to pick with Arcadia’s political kingmaker Berkshire, and the two share some “face time.” Meanwhile, Leigh’s online exposé attracts some murderously angry readers.

Swierczynski and Nguyen take on Dark Horse’s classic vigilante!

I never read comic books as a kid. Did The Punisher get his ass kicked a lot? I only ask since there is a vague Punisher vibe coming from the X Killer. That whole killin' villains with hyper-violent pinache kind of vibe, you know. And when X does it, he tends to walk away with as much of his own blood on his hands as of his enemies. But the dude's tougher than Samsonite luggage wrapped in kevlar.

Still, underground reporter, Leigh Ferguson, finds the masked vigilante battered and bloodied in an alleyway and doing something she didn't expect: asking for her help. What's a girl to do?

Most gals would have high-tailed it out of there before the corrupt police force or the seemingly few surviving gangsters showed up to finish him off. Leigh ain't most girls and piles the masked sack of tenderized meat into her car. Getting blood out of the upholstery is a pain, but so is the police barricade they run into. What's a girl to do?

In Leigh's case, her sleuthing has drawn the ire of not just the sleazy mayor who wants the anonymous blogger spilling the goods on his schemes, but also the X Killer himself. At this point it's a small miracle she hasn't received a gift-wrapped bullet to the brain. But it's not like X can be all that mad at her, since she did pull the proverbial thorn from his paw at the start of this issue. That's gotta count for something, right?

Swierczynski's and Nguyen's X is a cross between a Gatling gun and a rampaging elephant. If he isn't putting a bullet in you, he's stomping a mud hole in you, with a mop and a bucket required at the end more than a body bag. Revenge thrillers don't come with much more carnage than this, unless maybe if you're watching Old Boy or Ichi the Killer. If the action is getting ramped up further in this series, I can't imagine how.

4 1/2 Sheep

Guest Reviewer: Gef Fox

Wag The Fox: Den for Dark Fiction

Comic Review: X #1 by Duane Swierczynski

X #1 by Duane Swierczynski
Dark Horse
Writer: Duane Swierczynski

Artist: Eric Nguyen

Colorist: Michelle Madsen

Cover Artist: Dave Wilkins

Genre: Crime, Superhero
Publication Date: May 08, 2013

Format: FC, 32 Pages

Price: $2.99

UPC: 7 61568 22527 3 00111

Preview

The enigmatic vigilante X has shattered Arcadia’s criminal triumvirate, the Three Pigs, and fixed his eye on an even tougher target. But with the police department AND the crime establishment teamed up against him, muckraking blogger Leigh Ferguson may be X’s only ally! The brutal story of Dark Horse’s bloodiest hero begins anew!

* Swierczynski and Nguyen relaunch the classic Dark Horse vigilante!

* X is the letter of the law!

X #0 introduced the vigilante extraordinaire, X, through the eyes of the mob bosses he targeted for death. With X #1, Duane Swierczynski and Eric Nguyen continue the story by looking at the ramifications of the X Killer's actions through the eyes of Leigh Ferguson, a newspaper reporter turned blogger amid the city's corruption and crime.

In the wake of the bloodbath inside one of the gangsters' warehouses, the X Killer licks his wounds and gets ready for his next target, while Leigh tries to put the pieces together of who would hunt down the three biggest crime bosses in the city so ferociously--and why? And it looks like one of her first clues comes inside an envelope mailed by one of the gangsters before his untimely end.

Two issues into this series, it seems pretty evident that X is a homicidal maniac with a purpose. If he isn't shredding his enemies into bloody bits, he's maiming them with such intensity it would make a Bengal tiger blush.

I didn't exactly warm up to Leigh, but there hasn't been a whole lot of time yet to fully flesh her out as a character. I suspect Swierczynski and Nguyen will put a little more meat on her bones, X too for that matter, as their paths cross in the next issue.

read review of X #0

4 Sheep

Guest Reviewer: Gef Fox

Wag The Fox: a den for dark fiction