Nailbiter #20
Previously in Nailbiter #19
When you consume as much fiction as I do, it’s hard to be surprised. Sometimes, I wonder if writing about television and books has lessened my ability to enjoy what I’m watching or reading. And I able to get lost in the story or am I busy thinking about how I’m going to write about it? I’ve come to enjoy reading comic books without having to review them. I can just absorb the story and put it out of my head until the next issue, and not have to worry about being articulate and clever in a review.
Not so with Nailbiter. As soon as I’m done reading, I want to talk about it. (Side note: If you’ve ever felt that way about reading or watching anything, you’re the reason I started Project Fandom.) I want to tell you how amazing it is - though I still worry about being articulate and clever, because writer.
You know how it is when you’ve been watching a really great show, like Breaking Bad, and right before the series finale you start to worry? You wonder if they’re going to visit every storyline that needs to be tied up. You wonder if they’re going to spend the proper amount of time on the plots and characters that mattered to you. And then they do and it makes you appreciate the entire journey even more.
That’s what it was like reading issue because it stuck the landing for this arc.
Everyone is content to believe Daniel was the Devil Killer and that Vaughn’s bullet officially closed the case. Well, everyone except Barker and Finch, who do some digging and find the real killer, whose strings were being pulled all the way from Buckaroo.
Speaking of, Crane is back home and uneasy with her new alliance with Fairgold. For now, she won’t much time to dwell on it because Alice is awake and she has questions.
Finch has a few questions of his own for Warren, who’s chilling in federal custody. (I was wrong. He didn’t bug out at the end of last month’s issue.) After Warren’s bizarre story of escaping The Butcher, Finch realizes he cannot tell when Warren lies. Now it seems as though Finch has doubts about Warren’s guilt.
Finally, one of Barker’s I Wish a Motherfucker Would headaches became too much and she finally gives in to the bloodlust.
Oh, girl. That was the wrong motherfucker!
Nailbiter #20
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Plot - 10/1010/10
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Dialogue - 10/1010/10
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Art - 10/1010/10
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Back Matter - 10/1010/10
Summary
I didn’t see so many of these events happening, but when they did it was like, “Oh, of course!” That’s such a satisfying feeling as a reader.
The art continues to give you what you didn’t know you wanted. If you had asked me a few days ago if I wanted to see an illustration of a person hitting the ground after jumping several feet to their death, I’d have told you to get the hell away from me with your creepy-ass questions. But then I saw it and it was like, “Of course they went there. Of course.” Thanks, Henderson. Thanks, Guzowski.
What’s going to happen to Barker? What’s with Warren’s cryptic comment about the FBI? How will Alice react to truth? We have to wait until May 4th, when Nailbiter returns, to find out. But that’s plenty of time to re-read the series.
