Bigger Than Capes

By Will Holden

Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: André Lima Araújo
Colours: Chris O’Halloran
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Publisher: Image Comics

After a brief sojourn to some Billionaire’s disturbing sex party in French Polynesia, A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance #3 picks up immediately where the previous issue left off, Mr Wen and the nameless assassin are about to complete a contract by killing a woman, Neva Romero, in her kitchen. However, this is where some of my early suspicious have borne fruit, Mr Wen is not a hitman at all and is in fact, attempting to help the targets of this assassination agency. After saving Neva from her own murder, Mr Wen takes an unconscious Neva and flees her apartment. It is then revealed that she has a son who is still asleep in the apartment and together they must go back to retrieve him. This leads to the dark web network of assassins turning against Mr Wen once they realise his ruse. I get the feeling that this is the real jumping off point for the plot at large and things will start moving apace.

That said, this issue has solidified the thought in my mind, that this is a book best ingested as a whole. While I am enjoying the experience of reading this book (due to the great art), there is not enough information in each issue to warrant monthly story telling. I have no issue with this at all, in fact I prefer reading in trade or at least longer form storytelling than 20-odd pages, but from a review perspective I’m going to let this one complete its first arc and then come back for the full thing.

I have mentioned the great art above, so I will do so again. This book looks stunning. The way action is depicted feels kinetic and believable, and the various designs of the characters introduced so far appear real and individual. At this stage, this is the driving force of the book and in my opinion, absolutely worth returning for. The art grounds the book into a familiar reality which in turn makes the over-the-top action more tense and exhilarating than it often is in genre comics, where the stakes are generally quite low.

All in all, I am still enjoying this comic and I have been a fan of a lot of Rick Remender’s work in the past, so I have little doubt that this will fall short. But for the reason noted above, I am going to come back and review the full first trade as and when it is released as opposed to following along issue by issue.

I have also ham-strung myself with my new single issue rating system. I can’t whole heartedly give this a “Highly Recommended” rating as I do think the slow pace will put many off, equally I think this book is better than a “Give it a Chance” rating and will appeal to a decent majority of comic book audiences. Ultimately, Give it a Chance is the right rating to give at this stage but I am hoping to give a Highly Recommended come the trade review.

Rating: Give it a Chance

You can grab a copy of A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance #3 from any of these lovely vendors:

• Comixology
• Image Comics

Or your local comic book shop!