Monday, February 22, 2016

Fatale, Book Five



Fatale, Book Five: Curse the Demon is the final collection of Fatale.  It opens with a quote by Nietzsche, put alongside Josephine fighting the cult that is always chasing her.  In the present, she must find Nick Lash.  Most of the rest of the story is seen through his eyes, as she helps him escape Lance and hides him in a mysterious mansion where the Librarian, Otto, lives.  Then the story shifts to Somerset, the ancient cult leader.  We see his story through the ages before the final confrontation between him and Lash.  Before the title ends, there is a bedtime story about an owl god, being told to a young Nick Lash by his uncle Dominick.

Sean Phillips creates a certain state of urgency with his artwork, of movement.  He also does the lettering for his titles with Brubaker.  I noticed that he uses all capital letters for all the lettering except Nick Lash's thoughts throughout the series.  I particularly liked the lower-case "A" with the serif.  It can be confusing to have more than one person's thoughts in a comic, but the capital/lower-case method Phillips uses clears that up.  Elizabeth Breitweiser's colors are fantastic, as always.

The title draws heavily from authors of the turn of the 20th century and before.  I already mentioned the quote by Nietzsche, and the connection to Lovecraft's monsters is obvious.  My favorite of the five books has to be the third one, which is a little bit shorter than the others.  I loved the short stories, three of which are only tangentially connected to Josephine.  Overall, it's a great series that's just as long as it needs to be.  It could have been longer, but it might have lagged in quality should another arc be inserted.  I enjoyed Fatale.  

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