Image Comics 2015
Created & Written by Sam Humphries
Created & Illustrated by Tommy Patterson
Coloured by Jon Alderink
Lettered by Rachel Deering
Each issue that comes out get a little more crazy and off the rails with Jack Northworthy. Going back and seeing him as a teenager at the hockey game when we open this issue goes to show just how desperate he was for his father’s approval. While this isn’t anything new it was a great time to introduced a catalyst for Marlinspike to enter the picture. I also have to say that Tommy’s depiction of father and son here was great it’s like looking at a clone, I mean they really are almost the same man and I’m kind living for that.
I have to believe the actions depicted in the opening set the stage for the rest of Jack’s not so spectacular life. Either that or it’s just his hallucinating past events that may or may not have played out that way. Since we go to a scene where Jack doesn’t look so good and cannot find and I quote “that purple bastard” i’m going to say that it did happen.
From there this whole issue goes places I honestly had expected them too. Not only do we learn more about what Marlinspike wants but Jack’s father and his campaign manager as well. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Jack’s dad has come back into the picture after all his son is running for President and the man’s more interested in being famous and in positions of power than his son.
It’s never enough to get someone on the hook, because once you get him there you need to push him all the way over the edge. This Marlinspike has been keeping Jack strung along nicely and we see just how much influence he had and continues to grow with him. It isn’t really surprising to me that Jack is a loser and doesn’t feel like he can win the election alone or with Donna helping him. Still when we see how it all plays out both with the past and here in the present Marlinspike takes on a whole new aspect that i’m so incredibly engrossed by.
I do very much like what we see Donna get up to this issue. She knows Jack has been saying Marlinspike and now it’s time for research to figure out what that means. Suddenly it seems that this whole supernatural craziness is taking center stage and it definitely makes things that much more interesting. Even more so with the events we see this issue as Marlinspike strengthens his hold on Jack. I also have to say that the whole background information we’re getting on Jack here makes things even weirder and more entertaining, the man has always been seriously messed up and Sam takes it to a whole new level here.
I’m a fan of Tommy’s, he is super nice guy too. His work so far has been impressive and I love his style, attention to detail, use of backgrounds, page and panel layouts are all extremely well done. He has a great eye to keep of the flow of the story moving forward. Plus i’m still super impressed with how father and son look so alike. There are plenty of stand out pages in this issue but one goes above and beyond the res and it’s got Marlinspike and Jack’s father’s dogs in it. That is one incredibly pin-up style page and shouldn’t be missed.
Image is where imagination comes to flourish.