I’m beginning to think Joshua Williamson derives a sick pleasure from toying with us in between the pages of “Nailbiter” #9. As the issue picks up exactly where the last left off, there are a lot of questions to be answered but in the vein of any good mystery the answers to the questions are just more questions.
WRITTEN BY: Joshua Williamson
ART BY: Mike Henderson
PUBLISHER: Image Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: January 7, 2015
This issue is primarily devoted to showing just how much the past of Buckaroo has affected the present. The tangled history follows every citizen and hangs around their neck like a noose. Williamson reminds us of this with a brilliant opening page, it shows a school bus driver who is beaten down over time, he’s driven some of the world’s sickest maniacs to and from school every day and he’s had just about enough. The match cutting between panels by Mike Henderson is nothing short of his best work, well that’s until we get back to Finch’s story.
Because holy shit. The bees. Why the bees!? Although Nicholas Cage’s birthday was yesterday and his most famous scene in the past few years was The Wickerman “Not the bees!” performance, one can only assume it’s a happy accident that Williamson and Henderson make bees terrifying again. There is a full page spread of death that will have you on the edge of your seat with Finch as he escapes the clutches of the little bastards.
And, just as you think you’ve got everything figured out he falls into some more underground tunnels. This calls everything we’ve known about the city thus far back into question and only helps to complicate matters even further than before. Pepper in some generally unsettling moments with Warren being a total creep and you’ve got an issue designed to keep you guessing.
See, that’s the brilliance of Williamson’s approach to “Nailbiter.” He encompasses that small town paranoia through each of the incredibly realized characters he’s thrown onto the page. Each of them have their own reasoning for why the town is the way it is, and what exactly could be going on behind the scenes to make a town fill with serial killers.
The cover image shows a bus driver with a sinister smirk. His goal is to right the wrongs of his past, by preventing any of this children from growing into Buckaroo’s primary export. He doesn’t realize that he’s becoming the exact thing he loathes in order to prevent it. It’s brilliant poetic symmetry and great flawed reasoning for a character to act.
Williamson and Henderson dare to play the long game in this series, and the world is better for it. I can tell we’re circling around something, but how long it takes us to get there is anyone’s guess. Williamson is particularly gifted at seeded his future plot points in his series long in advance so the payoff may already be right in front of us. I can’t wait to see where we go next, and can’t possibly anticipate the direction of this book, making it one of the most thrilling buys every month.