Weekly Comic Book Review

By: Jeff Lemire (writer), Matt Kindt (artist), Carlos M. Mangual (letters) & Mark Doyle (editor)

The Story: The final chapter of this late-1800′s story showing a possible origin for the Sweet Tooth universe.

Four Things:

1. Very streamlined story without many answers. - I usually break my reviews up into five bullet points, but the story in this issue isn’t really that complex.  That isn’t a bad thing as it accomplishes what Lemire wants it to accomplish.  At the end of last issue, we saw the reveal of a Sweet Tooth-like baby complete with antlers.  Here we see how everything get’s turned upside down as the “rescue party” decides that the baby is a demon that must die, but the story is really just a straight-forward resolution to that conflict.  There’s not a lot of nuance or layering here.

2. Not many answers. - Maybe my expectations were out of whack, but I was hoping for a little more in terms of answers.  Looking on the bright side, the series has been talking about how the present day protagonists need to get to Alaska, but it’s been vague on WHAT they need to do in Alaska.  At least they have a target now.  Although one does still wonder how in the world they would have known to go to Alaska OR how they’ll find the cave once they get to Alaska (it’s kind of a big place).  It felt like there could have been a little more meat on the bone here and maybe we could’ve gotten some really big answers in this issue.

3. Kindt’s art works great. - This was really a brutal issue from a content standpoint.  I mean,  that shootout was rough. And what happens to the baby?  And it’s made all the more effective by Kindt’s artwork.  Most of his characters just have this roundness and softness to them and seeing that juxtaposed against what was happening was very chilling.  To really appreciate an artist sometimes, I’ll try imagining the reading experiences if other artists had illustrated the issue and you’d get a very different effect with just about everyone else.  Kindt just nails the gloomy/somber tone of Sweet Tooth.  He was really the perfect artist to come onto this series for a few issues because he didn’t change things up too much.  I can’t think of many other artists working in comics who cold have maintained the tone that effectively.  Surely there are others working outside of comics, but then they wouldn’t have had the sequential storytelling chops.  Kindt’s really a unique gem of an artist.

4. Fewer cooks in the kitchen. - So, Jeff Lemire brings in a guest artist and the total credit line is STILL only 4 names long.  Compare that to the most recent issue of Uncanny X-Men that had SEVENTEEN names once you’d credited all the artists and editors.  There’s something to be said for simplicity when you want to tell a story and have it remain pure!

Conclusion: This issue does provide some structure for our “present day” story.  It might have been nice to get a little more in terms of answers, but at least Sweet Tooth, Jeppard, et al have a target once they get to Alaska.

Jumping on point?: No way.  They don’t get much more inaccessible than this one: final issue in a story arc within a larger story that has been going on for 28 issues.  And with a guest creator to boot.  It’s a good issue, but NOT a jumping on point.  Maybe come back next issue or start from the beginning.

Grade: B

- Dean Stell

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Filed under: Vertigo Tagged: | Vertigo, review, Jeff Lemire, Sweet Tooth, Dean Stell, Mark Doyle, Matt Kindt, Carlos M. Mangual, Sweet Tooth #28, Sweet Tooth #28 review