Reviewed by Taylor Hoffman // @taylorcheckers
The girls of The Fever gang have seen some real dark shit and their only chance at survival is to protect each other and their home, Old Beach. Curb Stomp is a series full of betrayal, kidnapping, and plenty of killing, and this final issue brings all the brutality to the forefront with vengeance in full swing. Curb Stomp feels like a smoking a cigarette; there’s a rush of endorphins pumping, dopamine fulfillment, billowing smoke everywhere. This final issue makes me crave for more, mostly because the ending wasn’t quite as satisfying as I expected.
Story by: Ryan Ferrier
Art by: Devaki Neogi
Publisher: Boom! Studios
Release Date: 5/27/15
Price: $3.99
Ryan Ferrier and Devaki Neogi build a world of neon that can’t be ignored and shines a light into an underworld that rages with fire reds and brimstone yellow. There isn’t time to play shows, skate, or have family dinners anymore for the gang. Each member of the Fever has their own battle to fight within the war and any attempt at cleaning up this turf war mess only has only made it worse, especially involving the shady exchanges between the corrupt mayor and the self-described King of the Wrath. Machete Betty’s inner dialogue to guides us through the final battles as she focuses on rescuing Sweet Pea while the riot police have been called into Old Beach.
Drugs, gentrification, and dirty politics threaten the residents as much as the internal gang relations, so at this point in the story, everyone is on high alert. Scenes between the police and the members of Old Beach are as disturbing as they are powerful. The story doesn’t delve deep enough into issues of race, class, and gender as much as I wished it had given all the opportunities there were intrinsic to the setting and main characters.
Neogi’s style on the series combines the feel of the Hernandez brothers, very Love & Rockets both in tone and linework. Jeremy Lawson’s coloring separates Curb Stomp from almost every other current comic, there’s something so appealing about the lack of backgrounds in most panels because it shifts such attention to the characters themselves where their faces are front and center in a neon haven for the eyes.
The color pallet is the most striking aspect of the art: Blue, purple, and green take up the sky and foreboding black bleeds into the harsh red. The coloring is integral to the storytelling, highlighting shifting of alliances and the turning of the turf. Overall, it’s gory, but with a dash of cartoonish style that balances out the outright viscera spilling through the panels. However, so much of the detail was lost in this last issue that it looked more like a rough draft in comparison to the rest of the series. There were many times that characters weren’t well defined enough to determine who they were and far too often faces seemed awkwardly frozen and inappropriate for the scene.
Overall, Curb Stomp is an excellent mini-series that satisfies a taste for sweet, sweet revenge.