Nailbiter #6

Written by: Joshua Williamson
Art by: Mike Henderson
Colors by: Adam Guzowski
Letters by: John J. Hill

People will do a lot of crazy things to be noticed...like have your baby in Buckaroo, Oregon in the hopes that it will grow up to be a serial killer so that you can go on an eventual book tour. That's the premise for this quasi-filler issue of Nailbiter.

I say “quasi-filler” because while this issue does feel more like filler in between longer arcs, it still advances other aspects of the ongoing story and doesn't relegate its story just to this sole issue. We will see some of these threads continued.

Anyways, back to the story. This issue takes it's time to attempt to fill out more of Alice's character, but by the end of the issue I don't feel like I know her any better than I did before I started (other than one potentially big or misleading revelation at the end). She's still very distant. I don't know her goals or personality, beyond the fact that she's your regular angsty teenager. So it's kind of a miss to let her lead the issue and not end the issue knowing too much more about her.

Even though some of the character development falls short, the story itself is still very engaging and could have fallen down some cliched paths, but doesn't. It's ultimately a very engaging and (somewhat) endearing story. Although, there is one part about the end that I'd contest, but no spoilers.

If the story is engaging, then the art is Mesmerizing! Henderson and Guzowski absolutely kill it on every page with wide-eyed, terrifying characters and vivid landscapes, all brought to life by a beautiful and muddy color palette. Their work has consistently been wonderful and moody.

Even though this issue isn't as strong as previous ones, it's still very fun, and definitely worth a pick-up. Oh, and the epilogue? Absolutely dark and horrifying.


F.D. White is a writer currently working on his first comic mini-series, "The Fourth Sun." You can follow him on Twitter @fdwhite19