Hard Case Crime/Titan Comics 2016
Written by Christa Faust & Gary Phillips
Illustrated by Andrea Camerini
Coloured by Marco Lesko
Lettered by Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt
Following Snyder’s suspicious demise, Roxy and Nick hit the streets in search of a copy of the incriminating videotape, in the hopes of nullifying the bounty on their heads. Meanwhile, Lorenzo faces backlash on the streets as a result of the false murder charge and Detective Alvarez begins to show his true colors, despite objections from his partner.
Sometimes we forget what the past was like and at this point in time in the city it wasn’t so great. With peep shows and porn shops all over Times Square it wasn’t really a place respectable people went, not like it is today. Also it wasn’t really that long ago. Still that the corruption that we see and the fact that if you have money you have power and control to buy people like you would cattle makes you someone to be feared. More so if you’ve no qualms in making those who cause problems disappear for good.
I have to say that as Roxy and Nick are talking to everyone she can think of that might have known Synder things are kind of weird and more so than you’d think. Thanks to the work that Andrea does here we see the faces and facial expressions and at first I really didn’t think anything of them just hey this crowd and kinds of folks just don’t like questions. It isn’t until you get later on into the story that all this makes much more sense. So kudos for the work here and pointing out how things go and that we get it as readers.
Poor Lorenzo the kid is as sweet as can be and to have this happen to him well it’s not fair and inside i’m screaming about the injustice. The more we see of him, like we do this issue on the rooftop, the more I like this kid and think he’s special, gifted and hella smarter than given credit for. Plus he's still a minor so shouldn't having his face plastered in the paper been something that shouldn't have been done? Someone is going to a lot of trouble here.
I have to say that I love the attention to detail that we get in the artwork here. The use of backgrounds and the fearless use of nudity as it fits into the story and the way the characters come to life really make this story what it is. The use of page layouts through angles and perspective do great things for the flow of the story too.
This issue is chock full of surprises for me. I love the way we see the real nature of some of the characters in play. How much Went has a hand in controlling what goes on in the city and the real trouble that Roxy and Nick are in here. Believe me you the pair is in way over their heads here and if they get out of this one alive i’m gonna be applauding, surprised and incredibly impressed. Though honestly i’ve been impressed since the first issue with how well the storytelling has been here. It wouldn’t be too surprising if both of em made out of this alive but considering who they are up against and the nature of Hard Case Crime i’ll be pessimistically optimistic.