Comics
Review: Buzzkill # 4
“Buzzkill” concludes this month in a rousing story that is steeped in the past, and holds hope for the future. Donny Cates and Mark Reznicek knock it out of the park with a heartfelt finale that bursts with action. They even get a little meta in final pages that sees one of the best mini series of the year come to an end. Plus, the entire thing is brought to life by hard-hitting art from Geoff Shaw. Please don’t let this be the end; I can’t bare it, just one more drink…
WRITTEN BY: Donny Cates & Mark Reznicek
ART BY: Geoff Shaw
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: December 18, 2013
Sometimes we’re too quick to judge. People shrugged off Ruben… or Francis as someone who was beyond help, beyond selflessness, and beyond heroism. Just as “Buzzkill” could be brushed off as something trite, with the whole alcohol abuse gives me powers idea. However, it’s so ripe with the dangers of this idea and overcoming the addiction that reading it will create an addiction unto itself.
This is a tightly plotted chapter that sees Francis facing the threat that revealed itself at the end of the last issue. We’re treated to a flashback that helps establish the conflict and then we’re off to balls to the wall action. It’s riveting and heartbreaking.
Francis realizes something has got to give in order for him to overcome his final challenge, and in the end it’s a beautiful act that comes to define him. He finally earns his status as a hero, and we come to understand the core themes of the book, and addiction itself.
Within all that there are some incredible panels from Geoff Shaw that are sure to make this final issue memorable. Not the least of which is a fantastic assault with a bottle of liquor that had me smiling from ear to ear. A brilliant death that was haunting and beautiful.
The final battle is far from over the top; instead Shaw gives us the smaller moments that make it more emotionally relevant to Francis. This is more than his final physical struggle, and Shaw remembers that in his paneling. It’s actually quite incredible as it could easily be forgotten in light of the conflict at hand, but it never outdoes itself.
The team behind “Buzzkill” has managed to create a tightly bound story that pays off on almost every level. In the end you’ll have to be the judge as to whether or not Francis found redemption, and if he has become the hero he always wanted to be. But the best stories ask a question; they don’t answer them for us. Hopefully, this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Francis or “Buzzkill” but if it is, its nice to see the story go out on a high note.
This series is a dissection of the superhero genre, addiction, and personal growth. It’s a well-calculated examination of confronting our fears and becoming something better. I fear of a world without it on the stands, but know that the creative team will go on to make the comics market a better and more thoughtful place.
Rating: 4.5/5 Skulls.
IDW Dark and Paramount recently joined forces to launch limited comic book tales set in the worlds of Smile and A Quiet Place, and we’ve learned today that they’ll continue hanging around in those franchise universes with two brand new limited series tales.
Entertainment Weekly has exclusively revealed this afternoon that IDW Dark’s Any Given Smile debuts in September, while A Quiet Place: Rising Tides arrives in November.
First up, from writer Stephanie Williams and artist Pablo Collar, Any Given Smile puts a football-themed twist on Parker Finn’s successful Smile movie franchise.
The five-part limited series is “set in January 1995, during the American Arena League football championship game in St. Augustine, Florida. The rising superstar of the Sharks, backup quarterback Dupree, is feeling the pressure from his teammates, the fans, and also the city’s gambling underworld, to whom he owes a considerable debt. Meanwhile, a sports journalist investigates a string of suicides that may be connected to the big game. At the very least, they are connected to a sinister entity that preys on the minds of its victims.”
From writer Declan Shalvey and artist Luke Sparrow, A Quiet Place: Rising Tides will also be a five-issue limited story. The comic book tale “brings the creatures to the Florida Keys, where a father-daughter duo attempt to survive on water in a houseboat.”
EW further details, “This tense family reunion coincides with the arrival of the vicious creatures that hunt through sound. Grace and her dad find safety on the open ocean, but she’ll have to make landfall sooner or later; the father’s oxygen tank and their supplies are running low, while a hurricane swiftly approaches.”
Learn more about both comic books over on Entertainment Weekly.
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