
Image Comics 2015
Written by Jeremy Haun & Jason A. Hurley
Illustrated by Jeremy Haun
Coloured by John Rauch
Lettered & Designed by Fonografiks
Each issue of this series has taken us to a new place. First we are introduced to a sexually transmitted disease people are dying to have. Then we got a more intense look at the detectives involved here and how this is changing their lives. We got to see there’s another agency involved trying to cover up the truth about what’s happening to those infected. Now things continue to heat up with some surprising storytelling that takes what they are going through to a whole new level of awesome!
We open with something that is extremely adult in nature as a woman with Beauty’s body is explored by a man. It’s kind of obvious he isn’t infected and what he did was a safe fetish voyeurism kind of deal. Kudos to Jeremy though for the full monty moment, though don’t feel you have to hide that in shadows like the face if she’s not shadowed out. There’s more than one reason for this opening but it does leave this huge impact on you for those and more.
Last issue the officers were kind of ambushed and this issue we pick up with that as well only an unexpected event occurs.
Before we get to that however we do get to see the Senator and his team at the scene just vacated by our cops. The stress of what’s happening is getting to the doctor as we see her time containing the problem has run out. Of course the Senator isn’t a nice man and what he’s got in store for Foster is something we’ve already seen in action. What he does know however is who is helping them out now, Jake Lundy.
Jake has brought them to him to explain everything he knows and why he’s on their most wanted list of anti-beauty campaign. Only there’s more to his story than any could’ve realized and his actions now are because not only does he feel guilty but he lost the man he loves because of all this as well. He’s a man on a mission and primarily among them is that he can cure Beauty. He’s going to need Foster and Vaughn’s help in order to do it though. The big question is can he trust them to be on his side after all is said and done.
Suddenly we’ve gone to a new place in where this story is going. There’s a mystery sure but there’s a lot of action/adventure going on too. It’s like suddenly there’s this race against time to not only get a cure processed but help Foster recover from his recent disaster and where he now finds himself while staying alive to get the bad guy responsible for it all.
There’s some incredible dialoguing going on here and serves to keep the story moving forward and as the big moment happens all around are little things in motion that are set to keep this from moving onward. It’s a fabulously scripted story, the moments happen at this flow and pace to keep you glued to it. While the intensity of the story ramps up the interiors are flowing at that same pace. Getting to see the difference between infected and uninfected side by side with some minimal backgrounds it heightens the drama in relation to the timeline.
Jeremy and Jason are full of surprises here and the biggest one is that they’ve taken this concept and made not only more complicated than we could have imagined but they’ve also gone and made it simply irresistible to put down.