Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Mike Richardson
Artist: Gabriel Guzman
Release Date: June 3rd, 2015

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Dark Horse’s Father’s Day introduces us to Silas Smith, a once-feared mob enforcer whose brutal M.O. earned him the moniker “The Eastside Butcher”. Those days are now behind him, however, and Silas has chosen to live out the rest of his life in peace and seclusion – that is, until his world is turned upside down as his estranged daughter Denise shows up looking for a little closure, bringing some demons from Silas’ past right along with her.

Richardson’s script and story is fairly straightforward, with Silas trying to project his daughter from his former life while his nefarious ex-bosses look to tie up some ‘loose ends’. In an interesting twist however, it is newly-pacifist Silas who hangs back and lets his surprisingly capable daughter handle the majority of the heavy lifting, dispatching mobsters and corrupt former colleagues with apparent ease.

The dialogue is solid enough throughout – if a little ‘on the nose’ at times – and while the story’s resolution is fairly obvious from the first couple of pages, the execution is enjoyable enough to still make this a worthwhile read.

Unfortunately, Gabriel Guzman’s art, while featuring some undoubtedly impressive moments along the way, does struggle noticeably with the action scenes. Awkward posing and a disconnected sense of contact detracts from the physical exchanges, and while his layouts flow smoothly for the most part, the execution of the frequent dynamic set pieces does fall more than a little flat.

Overall, while it doesn’t necessarily add anything particularly fresh to the genre, Father’s Day is still an enjoyable slice of popcorn action. A follow-up somewhere down the line could definitely be interesting, and while the series is entertaining enough, the issues with the artwork unfortunately prevent it from ever achieving its full potential.

Rating: 3/5.

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INTERIOR ARTWORK
[Click to Enlarge]

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You can purchase Father’s Day TP from Turnaround Publisher Services (who generously provided the review copy of this title) via their official website.

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The writer of this piece was: Craig Neilson-Adams (aka Ceej)
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