“Cutter,” the weekly revenge horror comic that ran through the month of October, came to an end today in what I can only refer to as the most boring and subpar conclusion I’ve read in a long time. Not only was the “big reveal” not shocking at all, it was so sparse in plot that it felt like pages were missing. I actually counted to make sure something wasn’t wrong with my issue. Especially after making us wait two weeks for what was supposed to be a weekly comic, this conclusion was mega-disappointing.
WRITTEN BY: Seamus Kevin Fahey / Robert Napton
ART BY: Christian Dibari
PUBLISHER: Image Comics / Top Cow
RELEASE DATE: October 29th, 2014
PRICE: $3.99
Jeremy sits in a jail cell because, if you remember, he’s been accused of all the mysterious murders—the ones he claims are being committed by the ghost of Emily Higgins, a former classmate whom he and all his friends bullied back in high school. He wakes up in his jail cell bed, hands covered in blood, cell doors open, guards slaughtered all around him. So naturally he dresses up like a cop, steals a cop car and heads down to the psychiatric hospital to check out Emily’s old files. While there, he finds out her sister has been admitted and goes to have a chat with her. Secrets are revealed and he’s off to go save another one of Emily’s victims.
At this point I was thinking something really cool would happen. I was kind of hoping for a “My Bloody Valentine” situation—mind fracturing after witnessing a violent event turning Jeremy into the killer. I was even kind of wondering if Jeremy’s wife had some strange involvement. Basically I was hoping for some reveal that would knock me on my ass. What I got was so basic I nearly laughed. The only thing keeping me from laughing was how depressing it was. Without giving too much away I’ll just say that rape, no matter how poorly plotted, is never something I could laugh about.
So at this point, not only is the plot twist so dull and kind of really depressing, it also just… ends. Like mid-story. And since this was only an October mini-series, I literally have no idea what to think. My mind is blown and not in the good way. Issue #3 gave me some hope that the creators could do something solid with the revenge genre. Although it was nothing superb, it was fun and had all the makings of a solid story. So frankly, I’m utterly confused at this ending. It’s also worth noting that the art seems to have gotten progressively lazy. I was really digging it at first. There was a lot of detail and the violent scenes, though in black and white, were very vivid. By this last issue, the detail has gone and the violent scenes have all the impact of a cutaway shot.
Because it leaves us on a cliffhanger (if you can call ending a comic mid-story a “cliffhanger”) it’s possible Image has future plans for this comic, though I probably won’t be checking it out.