Picking up hot off the tracks of last issues surprise crucifixion and fire, “Nailbiter” #3 is Buckaroo Oregon’s retaliation. The more violent minded citizens subscribe to the old adage of “blood for blood.” They are after Edward “The Nailbiter” Warren for the dead kid strung up in town. It’s an exciting beginning that slowly winds down before an awesome final reveal.

WRITTEN BY: Joshua Williamson

ART BY: Mike Henderson

PUBLISHER: Image Comics

PRICE: $2.99

RELEASE: July 2, 2014

Reviewed By: Torbin Chimners

Questions throttle this issue, with answers politely taking a back seat. Framings, lies, graveyards and even a potential supernatural element are brought to attention here. At this point there isn’t any hard evidence against Edward Warren; in fact there isn’t any evidence at all. Warren’s dialogue expertly slithers its way down my spine every time, without fail. It’s impossible to tell if he’s ever speaking genuinely or even telling the truth. He gets a great moment this issue when he tells his own little story that helps emphasize that he’s trying to reform. I have no doubts believing that he fabricated the whole story. He may not have committed the physical crime but there is no way he’s not involved in some capacity. The comic is named after him so I’m excited to see how he’s tangled up in or, possibly, the orchestrator of the whole damn thing.

Warren is crucial and engaging but he’s not the star of this  issue. That honour rests with Sheriff Crane. She takes the reigns, throwing herself headfirst into the action. Finch is along for the ride as Crane drives the plot forward. Sadly we don’t get into her head at any point this issue but her actions more than speak for themselves.

The art continues to awesomely complement the tone of this book. The action is hard and brutal. The terror is eerie. There’s a neat multipage spook near the end that while creative and stirring ultimately falls flat because it’s so damn dark I couldn’t actually tell what happened. Then the way the next scene moves on I felt like it wasn’t intentional for what occurred to be confusing. In fact the whole last part is entirely too dark. I get what they were going for but it’s too heavy handed.

This series has a lot of potential. It’s spinning a large web and not every strand can be perfect, but all together I see them weaving a modern day epic.

Torbin Chimners AKA Torin Chambers is a rad dude from the nineties who does film stuff or something. Thomas the Tank Engine is his favorite transformer. Find him on Twitter@Vulgar_Rhombus