Basketful of Heads #5 Review

Written by: Joe Hill

Illustrated by: Leomacs

Additional Pencils by: Riccardo La Bella

Colored by: Dave Stewart

Lettered by: Deron Bennett

Published by: DC Black Label - Hill House Comics

June has had a really bad night. She’s discovered a mythical viking axe that cuts off people’s heads without them dying, her sheriff-intern boyfriend is missing, and there’s a group of escaped convicts on the loose on an isolated island. And now, well, she gets captured in the local police jail cell by a person she thought of as just another potential victim of that night’s affair. From here, the question I asked myself as I began reading this particular issue was: what else can go wrong? The answer: so much more!

Hill smartly uses this issue to start laying out exactly what has been happening on this island and how June, completely by accident, stumbled upon a pretty big conspiracy that she, as well as us as the readers, were completely unaware of. It’s worth pointing out here that June is just a visitor to this island (as it’s been laid out), coming to see her boyfriend at the end of summer. 

The explanation of what has been happening is laid out by Hill in a very exposition-heavy, almost mustache-twirling villainesque monologue by June’s captor and it explains everything that has been going on in the series, with the exception of the mythical viking axe. We learn more about the prison escape, the whole story regarding the suicide from the first issue as well as some facts that were previously unknown to the reader. After the last three issues that were almost all action without barely a moment’s rest, it was nice to have an issue to decompress a little and get some answers. 

Leomacs this month is assisted by La Bella on pencils, but you really wouldn’t know that there was anything different from previous issues when it comes to the art. La Bella seamlessly blends into Leomacs’ style and everything is brought together by Stewart’s continuously amazing colors. This has been a really fun comic not only to read, but to also see such great visuals from issue to issue.