Pigs #5
Reviewed by David O' Leary
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Story by: Nate Cosby & Ben McCool
Art by: Breno Temura
Colours by: Kevin Colden & Jordie Bellaire
Letters by: Rus Wooten
Cover by: Dave Gibbons & Angus McKie
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: January 11, 2012
Book Summary:
"SAN QUENTIN BLUES"
WATCHMEN artist DAVE GIBBONS covers PIGS! The Cuban KGB sleeper cell's gotta break into the most dangerous prison on earth & kill a neo-Nazi. It goes...BADLY.
Reviewer's Comments:
One of the best books of 2011 sets off in 2012 on an absolute tear. A personal favorite of mine in terms of storytelling are prison stories and there are not enough of them being told these days. The crew find themselves with the nigh on impossible task of having to break into one of the most dangerous prisons in the US in San Quentin. This is the prison with a policy of not negotiating your release if you are taken hostage by a prisoner so with the task of having to get into the prison so assassinate a neo Nazi whose very existence is detrimental to the continued well being of their larger plan, you could say that the pressure is most definitely on them to produce results.
If it is one thing that McCool and Cosby do all too well it is characterization. In this issue we see a whole new side to adult Felix where he comes up with the plan to buy an inmate in San Quentin to achieve their goal. On one hand it served their purpose which is something some members of the group were not expecting Felix to stand up and do but on the other hand it shows Felix in the light that we have seen him in all along in that he has gotten the job initiated with minimal fuss to himself. It brought a new layer to how Felix thinks and expanded on our understanding of him as a protagonist.
One of the stand out scenes in the book was near the beginning where Viktor's hate of Felix is explained as a huge disappointment that Viktor feels of Felix. Felix is nothing like he imagined him and he probes Felix with a comment that he says the White Russian of old would have killed him for. And Felix walks away. It was a wonderfully written scene and it explained one of the running threads of the series in a straight up but wholly interesting way. This new way of looking at their relationship is expanded on when Viktor and Felix meet Felix's contact and we see flashes of Felix's potential as the White Russian in another great scene.
The visuals in this issue are more gory than what we have seen to date with some graphic images. But rather than seem gratuitous they are actually fitting with what the neo Nazi has been built up to be in the issue. Tamura has been spoilt up with great coloring in the run so far and I'm delighted to see fast rising star Jordie Bellaire on the issue to lend her careful eye to the pages. Pigs is one of those all too rare books whereby the art and writing seem to be in perfect tandem.
Probably the best issue of the run yet and I'm delighted that this book continues to live up to expectations and surpass them each time I read a new issue. The whole creative team is doing a great job of maintaining a tense tone to the book and generating great amounts of characterization for an ensemble cast which is not an easy thing to do and I genuinely cannot recommend this book enough. I haven't felt like this about a book since Michael Nelson embarked on the awesome 28 Days Later run from BOOM! Studios two years ago and that was one for the ages.Story: 5/5
Art: 5/5
Overall: 10/10
Reviewer Bio
Name: David O' Leary
Email: idwfan@yahoo.co.uk
Bio: David has been with CR since June 2008 and started out as a reviewer and has expanded to do a couple of columns for the site also; starting with 28 Words Later with artist Declan Shalvey and later 5 Minutes With... where he talks with the industries best and brightest from Kubert to Moore.
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