Cutter #4
Cut down to size
Writers: Robert Napton, Seamus Kevin Fahey
Artist: Maan House
Publisher: Top Cow / Image
So....what happened?
Napton and Fahey wrapped up Cutter, the Carrie-esque supernatural revenge story of a girl scorned by a whole town, today. At least I feel like they tried to wrap it up. This is the last issue after all. The thing is, it doesn't feel like one. At all. The plot gets totally derailed in this issue when it's revealed who the Cutter really is, and it's not a good reveal. Honestly, I'm not even entirely sure it makes sense at all. There was all this talk about Emily's casket being empty, about her time in the mental hospital, about this and that in the previous three issues and they're touched on in this one...kinda but, it's rushed, muddied and ultimately, dull. I really expected so much more. I even feel a little bit, like I was promised a lot more than is here. The plot twist, if you can call it that, is uninspired and has little to no resolution. Jeremy, who I liked previously as the kind of boy-next-door character, acts out of character in his half-hearted apology to the Cutter and, there's little-to-no closure for him by the time the book ends either with his pregnant wife completely absent. For everything good in the first three issues, which I actually liked quite a bit, there's an outweighing amount of bad in this issue. I appreciate the effort to make a modern day revenge story, and I liked the characters, but it all falls flat like a $.25 gas station pulp horror novel.
The cover art is great, I've really liked the work of Christian DiBari who I was unfamiliar with before this in the previous three issues and on the cover and I would love to see more of him. So tell me, then, why it was a good idea to change the inside artist for the final issue? Maan's art isn't bad per se, it's certainly better than I can do of course, but it's not the same. It's clearer, easier to tell what's going on, and in the final "fight" more visceral. The cliffhanger-esque sequence at the end with Jeremy's mirror moment is really stomach churning and I can see that Maan has what it takes to carry a book like this. But, it lacks the tension, grit and tautness of DiBari's offerings which really shaped the first three issues. I'm wondering if something out of the creator's control happened with the art decisions in this issue because I just can't see any other reason to completely change an artist for the final and fourth issue in a weekly series.
I'm dissapointed. If you want to see some clearly talented guys playing around with the revenge genre, read the first three issues of Cutter, because I really liked them. Then, make up your own ending. I can assure you you'll be more satisfied with that than this.
Writers: Robert Napton, Seamus Kevin Fahey
Artist: Maan House
Publisher: Top Cow / Image
So....what happened?
Napton and Fahey wrapped up Cutter, the Carrie-esque supernatural revenge story of a girl scorned by a whole town, today. At least I feel like they tried to wrap it up. This is the last issue after all. The thing is, it doesn't feel like one. At all. The plot gets totally derailed in this issue when it's revealed who the Cutter really is, and it's not a good reveal. Honestly, I'm not even entirely sure it makes sense at all. There was all this talk about Emily's casket being empty, about her time in the mental hospital, about this and that in the previous three issues and they're touched on in this one...kinda but, it's rushed, muddied and ultimately, dull. I really expected so much more. I even feel a little bit, like I was promised a lot more than is here. The plot twist, if you can call it that, is uninspired and has little to no resolution. Jeremy, who I liked previously as the kind of boy-next-door character, acts out of character in his half-hearted apology to the Cutter and, there's little-to-no closure for him by the time the book ends either with his pregnant wife completely absent. For everything good in the first three issues, which I actually liked quite a bit, there's an outweighing amount of bad in this issue. I appreciate the effort to make a modern day revenge story, and I liked the characters, but it all falls flat like a $.25 gas station pulp horror novel.
The cover art is great, I've really liked the work of Christian DiBari who I was unfamiliar with before this in the previous three issues and on the cover and I would love to see more of him. So tell me, then, why it was a good idea to change the inside artist for the final issue? Maan's art isn't bad per se, it's certainly better than I can do of course, but it's not the same. It's clearer, easier to tell what's going on, and in the final "fight" more visceral. The cliffhanger-esque sequence at the end with Jeremy's mirror moment is really stomach churning and I can see that Maan has what it takes to carry a book like this. But, it lacks the tension, grit and tautness of DiBari's offerings which really shaped the first three issues. I'm wondering if something out of the creator's control happened with the art decisions in this issue because I just can't see any other reason to completely change an artist for the final and fourth issue in a weekly series.
I'm dissapointed. If you want to see some clearly talented guys playing around with the revenge genre, read the first three issues of Cutter, because I really liked them. Then, make up your own ending. I can assure you you'll be more satisfied with that than this.
A Look Inside
