Review – Southern Bastards #12 (Image Comics)

Title: Southern Bastards #12 SB12
Writer: Jason Latour
Artist: Chris Brunner
Publisher: Image
Publication Date: 11th November 2015

This month we see Jason Latour take on writing duties, with his “Loose Ends” partner, Chris Brunner taking over on art duties. What this seems to bring to the table is a slightly more jovial feel to the book (there’s still the obvious Bastards feel to it, I mean let’s be honest!) however, we finally get to find out the fate of Tad Ledbetter. Who’s Tad Ledbetter you ask? Remember the kid that was Earl’s friend in the first arc that got the shit kicked out of him? There you go.

Latour manages to do something strange with this issue, in that I actually started to feel sorry for a member of the Running Reds. I do think say this lightly and it gave me a funny feeling in my stomach, but Mater might not actually be all that bad after all! After the legwork that Aaron has put down throughout the rest of the series, this was no easy task, but Latour steps up, and we get a look into the lives of our supporting cast. There’s a kindness here that isn’t normally shown in the series, and a humour that’s not deepest black, and more the colour of that t-shirt you’ve worn too much. I’m always going to enjoy a Monday Night Raw reference, as well as a violent sociopath Foghorn Leghorn. However, there’s also a different kind of emotion to the issue, in that we’re dealing with a child that has been hospitalised by a group of thugs. It was a nice touch having the signatures on the cast, but damn did it tug on the old heart strings.

I was unfamiliar with Chris Brunner’s work before this, and the only way I can think to describe is is “Adult Disney, if the adult had schizophrenia”. There’s a bold, hyper-colourful side to it, with expressive features, puffy cheeks and thick lines, but Interspersed with dark scratching lines, and black spaces. It’s a welcome change from Labour’s work, not because I dislike the latter, just that Brunner’s style lends more to the story at hand here, and I think it might actually be the least violent issue to date.

We get some major characterisation changes with this issue, as a few grow, a few get worse, and a question I’ve had since issue 1 is closer to being answered.

Goddamn, I love this series.

I may have to give Jason Latour a hug this coming weekend at Thought Bubble.

Rating: 5/5

Chris_Avatar The writer of this piece was: Chris Bennett
Article: And Now For Something Completely Different
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