Posted in: Comics, DC Comics, Review | Tagged: aftershock, comedy, garth ennis, Jimmy's Bastards, John Kalisz, Russ Braun, spy thriller

Jimmy's Bastards #8 Advance Review: A Machine Gun Disguised as a Machine Gun

Jimmy Regent has arrived on the island Junior and the bastards are holding out in. However, Jimmy still isn't a good place, and both his confidence and his skills are slow to work this time around. Nancy is hidden somewhere on the island—if she is still alive. Meanwhile, Junior is having issues with his employees.

This is the penultimate issue to Garth Ennis and Russ Braun's Jimmy's Bastards. With it, we have a different kind of Jimmy, a different Nancy, and, well, Junior and the bastards are mostly the same.

It's hard to not sympathize with Jimmy a lot in this comic. He's aware of the kind of person he once was, and he wants to make amends. However, he still must maim and kill if he wants to save Nancy.

There is plenty of action and bloodshed in this issue. A particular scene finds a spray of machine gun fire into an oncoming horde, and it is remarkably gory.

Junior is really coming into his own as a villain. He's a smug prick, but his cause is interesting—even if it's an unlikely situation for one to find themselves within. The comic is the final word on daddy issues in any case, and it explores them on a level many comics won't.

The dialogue can bog down the pacing some as the comic struggles to rattle off a few more dry jokes here and there. The humor isn't funny enough to justify these occassional dialogue dumps, but these are few and far between.

I'm going to be so pissed if that puppy dies.

Russ Braun, as I've already implied, really gets to show off his action chops in this issue. The aforementioned machine gunning is a work of macabre art. The art looks solid throughout, with the rough-around-the-edges style quite fitting for the tone of this comic. John Kalisz keeps a well-balanced color palette and even manages to balance out the tons of red in this book.

Jimmy's Bastards #8 delivers the action-packed goods while setting up for the finale well. Ennis and Braun have created a unique beast with this one, and I'm excited to see how this nihilistic and comedic take on James Bond reaches its finale. This one gets a recommendation. Pick it up this Wednesday.

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