Saturday, October 29, 2016

The Sheriff of Babylon #11


Finally! A cover blurb that makes sense and really fucking nails this book!

Usually I offer a bunch of alternate blurbs for Tom King and Mitch Gerads to use for the cover but I don't think I can come up with one better than this. Besides, they've probably already picked which one of my blurbs they're using for the cover of Issue #12. I can't wait to be surprised by my blurb appearing on the cover!

I just reread the entire series before reading this issue and Holy Spicoli! This shit is crazy! As an experienced Comic Book Reviewer, I wonder if I should come up with more descriptive phrases than "This shit is crazy!" and "Holy Spicoli!"? I suppose just saying that this story is a well-written military fudge-up full of characters who have been so screwed by every side of the conflict that they can only trust the burning vengeance inside of them guiding their actions. Nassir probably wants to end the NCIS for killing his wife. Sofia wants to take out whoever was responsible for the rocket attack which caused her to miscarry (probably not Abu Rahim although that's what everybody is suggesting. More likely NCIS too!). Chris just wants to punch people in the face because they're all making his life really fucking difficult. And I'm probably wrong about everything because what the fuck do I know? I've said it in every previous commentary: this story is too smart for me!

This issue begins just after Bob's confession that his first attempt to kill Abu Rahim ended in the massacre of a Christian family. He then hints that they had to kill Ali for that. Which works since that would mean Nassir, Sofia, and Chris all have a beef with Bob and his crew. I'm not sure how Chris is going to kill Bob but I'm certain that's a thing that is going to happen in the future.


Here comes the truth bombs!

Bob tells Chris how they made sure Ali would be killed by jihadis while Abu Rahim is telling Sofia how he knows nothing of the rocket attack. So, that's going to pile more fudge on this fudge-up! Especially since Abu Rahim isn't really any threat at all! So what? What is it all about?

Sofia keeps asking if it's real. If any of it is real. And at this point, who the fuck knows? The military are chasing ghosts, or bogeymen of their own making. It's like a middle manager trying to prove they're doing a good job by constantly yelling at their underlings and finding fault in their jobs. The military needs bogeymen. And they make them, constantly, and the fudge-up keeps going on and on and on. And money keeps flowing and flowing and flowing. And everybody caught up in the cesspool just keep doing whatever they need to to keep from swallowing too much shit. I suppose this story will have some kind of conclusion next issue but, well...will it even fucking matter?

The Rankings! 1. The Sheriff of Babylon (*)
2. New Super-man (*)
3. Deathstork (*)
4. Wonder Woman (*)
5. Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps (*)
6. Suicide Squad (*)
7. The Flash (*)

Tom King knows how to write a story. A real story. One with a beginning, a quiet scene drinking by the pool, and an ending. Plus Mitch kills it on art.

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