Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Jason Latour
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date 17th June 2015

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Every time I think this book can’t hit me in the gut it goes and surprises me. Southern Bastards has returned, and true to fashion, it’s dark as hell. More sombre than previous issues, we deal with the fallout of Big’s death, and how it effects the ever diminishing main cast. Aaron hits the nail on the head with these, between the Sheriff’s remorse and lashing out, to Coach Boss flat out denying it was anything other than murder. it’s the two opposite reactions that make the latter part of the issue so good to read, with more insight into just who the sheriff actually is (because everyone is someone in Southern Bastards) and yet more insight into just how much of a bastard Coach Boss actually is.

Jason Latour really is in a field of his own with this book, it’s not a pretty book, and it’s not beautiful. It’s rough round the edges, it’s harsh like whisky and thick and bloody like how a good steak should be. There’s something special about the way the book’s drawn and presented that is somewhere between a comic and a soap opera. The page layouts read like it could be a storyboard and the way that Latour presents his characters with such expression and energy you could almost read the book without words and still know what’s happening. I really wish they would stop showing Big’s face though, I mean I get that it was probably the point in having a lingering shot of the man that just shout himself in the head, but there was something so sad about seeing his face, and the sheriff eventually closing his eyes.

There’s only a few books out there that I don’t want to turn the page, through fear of just what might be on the next turn, but there’s only one Southern Bastards, and that last page took my by surprise in a way that I didn’t expect it to. Damn you Aaron. Damn you right in the facebeard

Rating: 5/5

Every.
Goddamn.
Time.

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The writer of this piece was: Chris Bennett
Article: And Now For Something Completely Different
You can also find Chris on Twitter.

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