Review – Nailbiter #4 (Image Comics)

Publisher: Image Comics
Story By: Joshua Williamson
Art By: Mike Henderson
Release Date: 6th August 2014

I did a bit of bashing in my review the previous issue to this, although I still feel justified in my opinion. This issue however starts to bring the picture more into focus and finally reveals a little more than the first three issues, which I felt dragged on somewhat while revealing very little. This I think is the overall problem with this title; The lack of exposition is infuriating at times because its trying so hard to be cinematic in its output compared to its story. This is definitely more of a thriller and needs to portray itself as such more often.

This is where this issue shines more brightly than the rest. The story digs (no pun intended) a little deeper and starts to get a little more serious with the facts and mystery. The art is more kinetic and at times frantic which doesn’t hurt but instead gives the story a good dynamic punch. Speaking of story, it is still dragging its heels slightly, but significantly less so. We’re getting more information, and it’s gradually becoming less Scooby Doo and more X-Files, which is no bad thing. Different folks are going their own way, and not telling too much about the why’s of it. This is a better structure to a mystery which was becoming less and less intriguing. Here its more of a rescue and a sense of excitement is definitely being infused into the proceedings (finally).

Lets hope it remains this way and builds more quickly and with a little more drama. It would be a shame for the series to lose this momentum.

Rating: 3/5

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The writer of this piece was: Stanley Stu Brick