Daily Archives: 11 June 2012

Well, at least Brubaker goes whole hog when it comes to unresolved endings. He overwrites the final issue of Deadenders to an exceptional degree and still manages to get away with some of it. His writing skills–his short comic subject, like from Dark Horse Presents or Lowlife–come through and he writes some rather decent scenes.

It’s utter tripe overall. I’d have thrown this issue across the room if I were reading it on its release Wednesday, but he’s got a lot of competent moments.

The art helps. Maybe Pleece and Stewart were slacking the last few issues because they knew Brubaker was going to go crazy with different styles here.

Deadenders started, partially, as a Love and Rockets homage. It finishes a Love and Rockets homage too, a bad one. Brubaker’s narrative intentions are strong, his storytelling is just bad.

Maybe it’s the abbreviated run, maybe it isn’t.

Reading this issue, I do think Brubaker is just abbreviating his plans for how Deadenders would eventually turn out. It’s the only explanation for why he’d string together the issue’s awkward little “chapters.”

Even with the dumb dialogue and terrible new characters, the worst thing about the comic is the art. Pleece and Cameron have completely checked out. A couple of the characters–Beezer and another of the original Deadenders–still look like themselves. One of the other characters from the first arc looks different enough I was confused about his identity.

As for the big reveal Brubaker’s been sitting on a few issues? Boring. He can’t even plot out a dramatic scene, not with the terrible third person narration.

Deadenders isn’t going out with a whimper, it’s crashing to the floor and shattering. Brubaker’s managing to remove every good memory of its early issues with this terrible hurried conclusion.