The Aryan Brotherhood is ready to go to war…but so are Eden’s main players. Abner’s got a mission, Mark has a plan, and we’ve got one hell of a battle about to happen.
Is it good?
Postal #16 (Image Comics)
Observations
- Even when she’s being maternal, Laura Shiffron can still be pretty savage.
- There’s something deeply satisfying about a “hero shot” of Mark standing next to a U.S. Post Office sign.
- Rowan and Curtis make for one heck of a weird team, but I like it.
- Hell yeah, Maggie.
- Fun fact: “This is white man’s work” was runner up to “Make America Great Again” when Trump chose his campaign slogan.
- Leave it to Abner to make the vocal call of a children’s game into something absolutely terrifying.
- Isaac Goodhart once again comes through with the awesome paneling/perspective combo.
- Remember what I said about Laura Shiffron being savage? Well the apple certainly doesn’t fall far from the tree.
- Hmmm. I may have to rethink my decision to join #TeamMolly. Maggie’s even more badass than I thought.
- I’ve never seen a person’s head get blown off inside an enclosed casing (thank goodness), but I’m pretty sure Goodhart nailed it.
- Attaboy, Mark.
- Wow. That got real creepy really quick.
Is It Good?
As usual, Postal delivers another fantastic issue. I recently made a joke about not making the “wait for the trade” mistake I did for it with another Hill-penned series, Romulus. One of the main reasons for that is Hill’s ability to craft individual chapters/issues that are as just as enjoyable to read as the full volumes.
Postal #16 is a great example of this. You could conceivably have only read this issue and still gotten a full (and good) narrative experience. You’ll obviously get a heck of a lot more from knowing/understanding what came before, but it’s nice to see that the art of making good single issues hasn’t completely disappeared in this era of decompressed storytelling.
My only quibble with this issue was with the final confrontation. Even though it’s all types of awesome and gorgeously drawn, it still didn’t quite match the build up that preceded it. This is mostly due to the fact that the other major battle sequences we’ve seen during this arc were (arguably) much better.
That being said, I did love the way this particular showdown gave us our first glimpse at what Mark is truly capable of. He’s not evil or unfeeling by any stretch, but he has an uncanny ability to override the sympathetic part of his mind that blunts the effects of cold, hard analysis in most people.
It was also great to see Maggie really let go and show what’s she’s capable of, both emotionally and as a fighter.
The interactions between Rowan and Curtis had the potential to be all types of cheesy, but Hill carefully pulled it along toward a genuinely beautiful dynamic.
And that last page…good lord. Just when we thought we had Mark figured out, too. If you thought things were going to calm down around Eden once the war was over, you clearly haven’t been reading the series for very long. I’ve got a feeling that life’s about to get infinitely more complicated for everyone…
…except for those of us who have this title on our pull list. Postal continues to prove month after month why it belongs at the very top of the reading pile.
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