Someone is kidnapping the gods of voodoo for their own purposes and Punk Mambo has just about had enough of people second-guessing her methods. It’s time to take this fight to the source!
After some impressive fight scenes in the previous issues, this month also continues the fun occult detective side of the story. I’m a sucker for interesting descriptions of magic, as they tend to give the larger than life proceedings more of a tangible feeling.
I don’t know what getting hit by a psychic wave feels like and I can’t sense a spirit from a mile away, but I do understand getting a bad taste in my mouth or a ringing in my ears that won’t go away. It’s very clever of writer Cullen Bunn to put these sort of magic senses into terms we can understand, yet phrase them in haunting ways. It makes the danger feel much more real.
There are some really nice little touches evident in Adam Gorham’s artwork throughout this issue that make Punk herself stand out. There’s a real dedication to selling her as a total hell-raiser in more ways than one; Punk can’t take a step without a dust cloud leaping back from her boots, like she’s about to stomp her way right into the unsuspecting underworld. It gives her words a little more weight, as it would be easy to assume she’s putting on a show for those around her.
No, she’s smart, capable, and she’ll do exactly what she promises and then spit on your grave when she’s done. Beyond the dialogue, so much of Punk’s confidence and strength is really conveyed by the artwork. It’s more than posing and it’s more than body language. There’s a full human being in these drawings and she’s equal parts terrifying and fun to follow.
If there’s one bit that feels a little unclear, it’s how Punk knew to go to the place where she ends up on her hunt. She makes a reference to “tracking” the enemy, but it’s kind of left to us to wonder exactly how. It’s likely simply through her sensitivity to magic, which she has pretty much followed in the last few issues. Still, it does feel like a bit of a leap for the sake of moving the plot along.
Then again, we do get to seemingly meet the Big Bad of this miniseries, who seems to work solely for his own advancement in the world. In many ways, it’s the ultimate villain for a self-described “punk” to go up against, so I’m curious to see how this sort of undercurrent of class warfare plays out in the miniseries’ last couple of issues.
For now, though, all of our players are dead set on righting the wrongs that have been done to them. Given how closely each issue follows the previous one’s ending, it’s going to be a rough wait for next month’s issue.
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