Search
Resize text+=

‘Hard Wyred #4:’ Comic Book Review

When all the options suck…pick any card.

Hunted, broken, alone, and lost, anyone becomes easy to manipulate.  When a rope plunges into the darkness that you’re drowning in, you grab it, not caring what’s holding the other end.  And when your bad judgment put you there in the first place?  You kiss whatever’s up there.

Erik Bitmanis and Ross Zucco have been driving their worldbuilding from two angles throughout this series, and, finally, we have the intersection, where everything that we need to know to create a complete picture feels like it has been laid bare before us.  Minus a few dangling details that leave some whammies possible for us to uncover, we as the audience have been brought to the point where we have all the information that we need to carry us through the conclusion. 
What I’ve found in the magnificent crafting of this piece is that there isn’t a single character that I’m rooting for.  Everyone in this twisted, silly, and highly addictive tale is flawed in engaging ways, and I’m torn deciding who I want to suffer the most when the hammer falls.  I’m not saying that no one’s redeemable, I just honestly want all of the schemers brought low, and that’s a cool place to be as a reader.  Also, mildly worrisome with its connection to Heath Ledger’s Joker, but nonetheless I think that the finale is going to be something epically enjoyable, because everyone has something on the line that is predicated on someone else losing what they need.  The interconnectedness of the characters is delightfully tangled in a way that will provide constant enjoyment once the dominoes fall.

The artwork still shines, highlighting gags and well-paced action with equal finesse.  Zucco has given us the perfect image in the final panel of someone who has literally lost everything, and, considering its ties to the first gag of the book, reveals a deftness of touch that can make an image simultaneously goofy and devastating.  That’s no mean feat and exemplifies what this team does best.

Puns, guns, and automobiles combine to take the reader on a journey that will engage with its grounded realities while tickling with its absurd buffoonery.  It’s a pairing that sits rather well with me and puts enough of a twist on both to make something new and rich in entertainment.  I can’t wait to see how they finish this thing off, as I can’t guess.  Gags or gravitas, I’m in.  

Share the stories that move you.

Creative Team:  Erik Bitmanis (Creator/Writer), Ross Zucco (Pencils & Inks)
Publisher: Self-Published
Click here to purchase.

Erik Cheski, Fanbase Press Contributor

ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=150&d=mm&r=gforcedefault=1

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top