After a thrilling (and exceptionally violent) last four issues, the Bound by Blood story arc finally catches us up to where we started things back in issue #21. Is it good?
Nailbiter #25 (Image Comics)
Observations
- BUTCHER FLASHBACK!
- …and now I have more questions.
- Oh c’mon! You can’t cut away and come back right at that exact moment!
- Still not sure if Alice is crazy, but she’s definitely a badass.
- Stop playing with my emotions, Edward.
- Yikes. How did I forget about her?
- Huh?
Is It Good?
Mostly. We’ll get the bad(ish) stuff out of the way first.
Aside from a couple editing errors, the thing that really stuck in my craw the most was the major cutaway before we got a big revelation. To writer Josh Williamson’s credit, however, he manages to turn a moment that initially pissed me off into a respectably interesting plot point.
I’m also not sure what to think about the ending. On one hand, Mike Henderson caps it all of with one heck of a visual. On the other…I don’t really know what it means or what to think about it.
All that being said, the good stuff in this issue far outweighs the bad. Alice is awesome. Finch does something I’ve wanted him to do for a few issues now. The Butcher is more terrifying (and fleshed out) than ever. And for all my whining about the big cutaway/missing reveal, Williamson does a beautiful job linking the narrative’s timeline back to the beginning of the arc. We are also genuinely not sure if Alice is crazy or completely in her right mind. The fact that we are even considering that she might be completely in control of her mental state while holding a severed head and screaming “DIEEEEEEE!!!” is a testament to Williamson’s fantastic work with her character.
Speaking of good characters, there’s a great moment in this issue with one who Williamson somehow keeps sneaking into the story despite the fact that their appearance shouldn’t be a surprise by this point.
It’s also not a surprise that despite a few missteps, Nailbiter still does enough well to make yet another great issue. The mystery of Buckaroo may still be a ways off from our understanding, but the journey to get there continues to be bloody good entertainment.
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