Review – Victorie City #3 (of 4) (IDW Publishing)

March 8, 2016

1–2 minutes

Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Keith Carmack
Artist: Vincent Nappi
Release Date: 9th March 2016

Brahn Allvar, fresh from the electric chair, is enjoying his new found power. He interrupts a ballet rehearsal, denounces the ballerinas as whores and this unwelcome theatrical criticism ends with a few people dying. The Victorie PD bring Ness back from suspension and hoodwink him into going after Allvar. But there’s still the small matter of the missing girl Cyndi Brown, and Allvar may know something about it.

The relationship between Allvar and Ness is a curious one. Like Frankenstein and his creature. Ness put Allvar in the electric chair. The spark that merely awoke the creature and horrified and disgusted Frankenstein stays with Allvar, has created him and he terrifies Ness. But unlike the creature, Allvar is powerful and mighty and terrifying from the get go. Does he know anything about Cyndi? Why is she so important? Prying minds need to know.

As I said in review of the second issue, the artwork is fantastic. Fans of Templesmith will appreciate it but it has its own specialness, a genre of its own. Nappi’s urban landscape is grimy, dirty, squalid, dusty, frantic and disturbing. In the midst of of the blues and blacks of the city, flashes of yellow are sickly and scary, reds are bloody, demanding attention. It amazes me that the panels, the artwork, can be both dense and layered and transparent. Some areas are heavily worked, some barely touched. I fear here lies the truth of our hero Ness.

Rating: 5/5.

If you want to find out more about Victorie City, make sure to check out our interview with series writer Keith Carmack by CLICKING HERE.

PREVIEW ARTWORK
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