By: Scott Snyder & Scott Tuft (writers), Attila Futaki (art), Greg Guilhaumond (colors) & Fonografiks (letters)
The Story: It’s the finale! How does little Jack get away from the cannibal?
Four Things:
1. Creepy and disturbing! – Man, does this team understand horror or what? Most monologues by villains/killers are contrived, but hearing the killer in Severed go through his motivations for picking Jack was really something: The dude actually gets off on crushing the dreams of children. The bigger their dreams, the more he likes to eat them. I also love that there was no attempt to make this guy redeeming. We didn’t have to see his childhood and understand what made him a monster; nope, he’s just an evil monster who devours children. A couple other moments really stuck with me too: the panel on page 2 where the killer is shown from above with a long shadow behind him AND the ending when the killer is yelling after Jack. This story will stick with us!
2. Excellent art! – There isn’t much more to say about this art that I haven’t already said here and here. But, for those who haven’t been following along, the art is splendid. Futaki is laying down some wonderful lineart. I mean, this stuff is among the most vital and lifelike art you’ll see from an artist who is working in a mostly realistic style. If we had more artists like Futaki, I probably wouldn’t mind realistic art so much. I only hope that less talented artists aren’t being inspired by him. But, it doesn’t stop there. Usually with lineart as good as Futaki’s, the colorist needs to just not screw up: don’t add stupid highlights, don’t ruin the light sources, don’t mess up the depth in the panels, etc. But Guilhaumond actually improves the overall look of the book. His colors are what make this book look so smelly, sweaty and dusty.
3. Room for more stories. – I’d wondered how these guys were going to end this story but still leave room for more. Well, I don’t want to spoil the ending, but they have several ways they can go. There’s an obvious “present day” angle to play with, but they could also show us something from the last 50 years OR even something from the killer’s dark past. Heck, we could even learn more about Jack! Much like the time bouncing in American Vampire, Snyder and Tuft have given themselves a very flexible structure going forward.
4. Love Jack getting all bad-ass. – It’s a small item, but I think it was very important for the story to see Jack get all tough with the killer at the end. Because of this, I LIKE Jack now in a way that I wouldn’t if he’d just run screaming from the building and gotten away. What’s amazing about this sequence is that Jack was totally believable. I mean., it’s a kid who is missing and arm and he’s going to do battle with an ancient monster and you actually feel like he’s going to win. And he needs to win because otherwise the monster will just find him again.
Conclusion: A great finale to this miniseries. I hope we haven’t seen the last of these characters and creative team. You won’t find a better told and illustrated pure horror story in recent comics.
Grade: A
-Dean Stell
Follow Dean on Twitter.
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