Mild Mannered Reviews - Specials
Vigilante #3
Scheduled to arrive in stores: November 23, 2005
Cover date: January 2006
Writer: Bruce Jones
Penciller: Dustin Nguyen
Inker: Dustin Nguyen
"Out of the Night"
 Reviewed by: Neal Bailey
Click to enlarge
In Justin Powell's office, Vigilante remembers an image from when he was ten, of something creeping after him in the dark. He stops remembering, asks for a diagnosis, and Justin informs him that it's not that simple.
The phone rings, it's Ms. Carpenter. She wants Powell to come over. Vigilante says he spoke to her. She says there's an addition, and sure enough, when Powell arrives, they find a V on the mirror of her bathroom.
They end up spending the night together. In the middle of the night, Powell has a dream that Vigilante has cut off Rene's head. They wake up, and Powell decides he should tell the police about Vigilante.
Ry Sovereign and Sholin search for records on an about-to-be-released prisoner that the Vigilante might soon be targeting. Sovereign goes and has a sit down with the criminal, suggesting a possible "team".
Vigilante recounts his past, remembering going home after a late day in the city and finding his family dead. He runs from the perpetrator, who chases him down, but finally, Vigilante saves the young Vigilante.
Vigilante snaps up and pushes Powell down, telling him that he's tried hypnosis, pointing to the twirling pen. He stabs a knife down on the table and departs.
Powell tells Rene later, and indicates he believes Vigilante's past story. He sees a connection between Vigilante and the child killer, but he doesn't know what it is.
Outside, agents listen to their conversation.
 Story - 4: Believe it or not, this issue almost turned the story around. As I said earlier, it's hard to judge something without a bit of the full picture in place, but as we move along, Rene, Ry, and Sovereign all have a bit more to add.
Plus, this issue started really focusing on the most interesting thing about the series, Vigilante. It's actually made him into more of a character, it shows where he's going, develops the plot, and a lot of the executed parts of this issue were more interesting.
The knife into the desk was well written, as was the scene with a dead Rene, I actually bought into it. And the flashback scenes were also interesting, at least. I'm amazed, because books don't usually one-eighty to good like this often. I think a lot of it is the forced decompression here... the eye for the six issue story. This is the first ESSENTIAL book of this series, though there are some establishing elements in the last two.
Also, this issue takes pains to help you recognize what the art makes sometimes difficult. The setting, and the characters. Handy captions indicate when we're with Ry as opposed to Powell, and it makes the story MUCH better and easier to read, since the art is very indistinct with regards to people in white work shirts and their actions.
 Art - 3: This art is a bit odd, because it seems like it WANTS to be that noir that Gotham Central really does well, but really, the artist does so well with the action scenes that it pulls you out of the other ones and makes them pale in comparison. You also, as I said, have a hard time drawing distinctions between the scene's settings before it's pointed out to you.
As more Vigilante comes in, so too does the art seem to be getting better.
Cover Art - 4: This cover blows the other two away. I'm not sure if it's how human the woman looks, how honest the image is, or if it's the lurking guy behind her. But improvements all around. I'm surprised. After the first two, I dreaded reading this issue, but on all fronts, this book is getting much better. Perhaps the change of artist has helped.
Mild Mannered Reviews
2006
Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.
January 2006
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Check out the Comic Index Lists for the complete list of Superman-related comics published in 2006.
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