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Who's in this issue?
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One thing that I did find different about this new creative crew of Darick Robertson and Tom Palmer is this: though the story isn't your traditional (maybe old-fashioned now?) stories featuring mutants and mutants bashing each other, the two aren't shy about killing off those who deserved to die, even if they aren't mutant. Case in point: what Logan does to Sheriff Terril in his squad car after Terril "proudly" proclaims that Lucy Braddock had what was coming to her. Logan proceeds to leave Terril as a bloody, mutilated corps in his squad car. Now *that* is something you don't see too often in a Wolverine issue ... maybe in a Punisher issue, but not this title so far. And they weren't shy about having Cassie Lathrop, the BATF agent, get brutally assaulted by three men.
Another thing that was "creative" in this title was the use ... or more properly said, "non-use" ... of words to describe actions in a few scenes in this title. Less words simply allows the pictures to tell more of the story. Three examples of this can be seen in this book: Terril and his associate's intrusion into Braddock's home after they littered it with bullets, Logan's investigation of Sheriff Terril's office (gotta grin at his reaction of his immediate reaction after smelling the pepper mace from the ground), and the very final scene, where he has that vicious grin on his face after finding the compound where Cry and the rest of the Brotherhood were stationed. In these instances, having the characters talk would be very out of place because they would be talking to themselves. Thought balloons could work, but why bother? If the artist can do a good enough job with his/her character's body and facial expression in a scene, as well as doing a good job with the scenery to where the character is situated in, these elements alone are worth a thousand words. (Why the praise? I had just read through Wolverine / Doop, a brief 2-issue spinoff from the X-Statix title, where we had characters talking to themselves to explain what they were thinking and what the situation was. To me, that was unnecessarily talkative and disruptive ... what normal person would talk out loud to themselves to describe the situation and what they are thinking? Let the pictures do the talking!)
Overall, I think we know where this story is headed: Logan's going to have a showdown at the Brotherhood compound with Cry and his gang, and in the process, probably save the women who were being held as "sex slaves" there. The storytelling so far in these first four issues has been good, even if it is very predicatable on what will happen next.
Rating (from 1 dot (not recommended) to 5 dot (highly recommended)
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"Brotherhood: Part 4"
IN THIS ISSUE:
Arriving late at night into town, Cassie Lathrop begins to ask around for the man named Dennis Terril. A bar patron points her over to the local sheriff's office where Sheriff Terril works from. The look on Cassie's face tells what she is thinking about: why would a mystery guy (Logan) ask for information about the local sheriff in the town?
Back at Joe Braddock's home, where Sheriff Terril and his associates has just opened a barrage of gunfire at Joe's home. They entered the home, only to find Joe and his "mysterious associate" (Logan) missing.
Out in the backwoods, Logan and Joe had escaped. Joe insists on the two going to his friend home for shelter. Logan tells Joe to go ahead on his own, meet up with Joe's friend, then head to Portland to seek out Logan's friend, Blaine, for help. In the meantime, Logan was going to head back to have a talk with Sheriff Terril.
Back in town, where Cassie notices a truck stopping in front of the sheriff's office. A blond haired man leaps off the back of the truck, unlocks the door to the office and enters. Cassie follows inside. Confronting the blond haired man, she asks if he was Sheriff Terril. The blond haired man introduces himself as Cry, and that he had the sheriff's permission to enter his office, even though the sheriff wasn't around. Cassie tells him to step away from the sheriff's desk. From behind, two of Cry's associates steps in. Cry pulls out a flashlight, and blinds her with the light. Cassie tries to arrest Cry, but he pulls out a can of mace, and sprays her in the face. Cassie puts up a struggle, but the three men overpowers her and Cry beats her until she is unconscious.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Terril and his men decides to split up to look for Joe Braddock. Sheriff Terril instructs his associates to check out Joe's friends' homes. He gets in his car and drives back to his office, unaware that Logan had slipped into the back seat of his vehicle. He arrives at his office. As he reaches over his seat to grab his cap, Logan unleashes a claw through the car seat and intl Sheriff Terril's right arm. He tries to reach for his gun with his left arm, and Logan unleashes another claw through that arm. While Terril is in pain, Logan asks where Cry could be found. Terril tells him that he is located at a complex twenty miles away near an abandoned mine. He tells Logan though that he and his Brothers have guns and would kill Logan before Logan could get into the complex. Logan retracts his claws. Terril asks why Logan cared, sepcially when Lucy Braddock had what was coming to her. Enraged, Logan unleashes his fury on the sheriff, leaving him as a bloodied corps in the squad car.
Logan enters the sheriff's office. He notices some mysterious liquid on the ground. He puts his finger in it and takes a deep sniff, only to realize that it was mace. (With his enhanced senses, mace has a more potent effect). Outside, he notices a jeep parked nearby. He recognizes the vehicle as being that of the "Klamath girl" (Cassie), and wonders why she's here, and where she was now.
Inside the Brotherhood's compound, Cassie was dragged into a locked enclosure. Inside were several other women, who comes to Cassie's aid. She waves them off, proclaiming that she was a federal agent and had been kidnapped. One of the women, Kim, tells Cassie that she was now locked in a "cult ... or a harem ... or a prison. Take your pick." She tells Cassie that Cry calls them his "wives", and that Cry would occasionally summon for the company of one of them, and then after a few days, when he was done with that person, he would send her back and send for another replacement. Kim tells Cassie that there was no way they could get out, and if they resisted, he would punish them. Kim shows Cassie her hand, missing a thumb, as a sign of what Cry would do. As for why the other women were so loyal and unresistive to Cry whereas Kim was so resistive, Kim thinks that maybe Cry was a mutant, or maybe it was just the hostage psychology factor.
Meanwhile, Logan had made the 20 miles trek, and located the Brotherhood's compound. Wth a hand in his fist, Logan grins, knowing with anticipation at to the task ahead of him in getting into the compound to find Cry.
