Review: Nailbiter #11
Previously in Nailbiter
Yes, we’ve kicked off a new arc, but Nailbiter is still deliciously disturbing. This issue, we spend time in only two locations - each depicting physical and psychological torture against someone held against their will.
Finch has forced his way into Warren’s home and tied the serial killer to a chair. He beats him, demanding to know why Buckaroo has produced so many serial killers. Warren responds by first threatening Finch, then trying to get under his skin, bringing up the suspect Finch killed during an interrogation.
Meanwhile, Agent Barker is caged in a basement after being attacked and drugged. In the cage across from her is the old man whose bees attacked Finch. This is not the way Barker wanted to find out she was wrong about Finch’s story of the attack. On the plus side, old crazy bee dude is down to spill all of Buckaroo’s dirty secrets, including the origins of the town’s serial killers.
Finch has moved on to stabbing Warren in the leg and twisting the knife as he asks who hurt Carroll and the identity of the killer in the mask. Warren taunts Finch, asking him to think about why the FBI only sent one agent to investigate. Perhaps they don’t really want to know what goes on in Buckaroo.
We cut back to Barker just as whatever bee dude told her sinks in. Of course, the moment you realize Barker knows the secret, you also know Barker’s going to die. The man in the horned mask appears to drag bee dude to an operating table. Another masked man announces they’re going to experiment on bee dude, and Barker gets to watch.
The next two pages are torture for all: for poor old bee dude as he is hacked to pieces; for Barker as she can’t help but look; for Finch as Warren continues to push his buttons, daring him to kill him; and for us as we get all of this in small, terrifying panels.
Barker waits until old bee dude is nice and dead before she kicks open her cage and makes a run for it. The man in the horned mask catches her easily, and his partner informs Barker they have greater plans for her than death.
Finch proves he’s better at the mindfuck than Warren when he pulls up a chair and proceeds to eat his own fingertips. This does the trick. Warren rages, breaks from his chair and attacks. Finch subdues him and proceeds to start on his next finger when Warren gives.
He’ll tell Finch everything.
Overall Thoughts & Questions:
- So, the two (that we know of) killers have been looking for old bee dude for a long time, and it’s thanks to Finch that they finally found him? But wasn’t he just living in his son’s basement? How hard were they really looking?
- Also, old bee dude said he wasn’t one of the town’s serial killers because he’d only killed one person back when he was still in diapers. As the killers begin to chop him up, he protests saying he’s not like the others. He was only a baby didn’t know what he was doing. Are these two punishing people they believe to be killers? Ugh. All of my theories suck.
- Kyra Sedgwick ain’t got shit on Finch. This man knows how to get a confession.
- Am I the only one who wants Barker to become a serial killer? Also, Finch is crazy, right?
