Broken Frontier

The Serpent Slayers finish what they did not start and two gleefully malevolent characters make their debuts. The blood-thirsty, alternate history tale continues!

The third issue of Katharsis opens with a surprisingly Garth Ennis inspired sequence, introducing a new villain seemingly pulled straight from the pages of Preacher, insofar as the character is a Nazi, a sadist, and fiendish in only the most idiosyncratic ways. Immediately following this, the story delves directly back into the fray between the heroes of the Russian resistance – The Serpent Slayers – and the remainder of the Third Reich army positioned within Moscow. It’s another issue-long slugfest (though, I suppose technically, it’s a two-issue long throwdown as this is a direct continuation) that proceeds apace with all the oddball humor and creative gusts of choreographed hyper-violence as which filled the previous two issues. By the end, the battle still isn’t over, though the final page does insinuate that a new focus (if not a change of pace) may take place for the proceeding, upcoming chapter.

I was very much thrilled with the inaugural issue for this series – it was action-packed, highly original, and gory as hell, which are totally a few of my favorite things – and I was undeniably intrigued by the quick redirection of character focus the second issue brought (by introducing the entire mercenary team, The Serpent Slayers). Now at issue numero tres, I feel that this latest chapter is by far the weakest of the bunch, yet concomitantly (in a paradoxically parallel effect) it’s also the most engaging.

Writer Michael Westerman still brandishes all his hallmark action and forever unpredictable pacing (I know I said it’s all action, but the even the pacing of the fight scenes are bewilderingly conducted, with a flow and a film-editing control all its own, wholly unlike any other comic I’ve read), yet the avert-your-eyes violence in issue three is wrapped firmly with an eccentric, bleak humor that wasn’t found in prior installments. This combined with the teaser opening (the villain introduced, but not utilized, though he’s positioned so that he soon will be!) and the equally provocative ending introducing yet another sociopath of unforgettable design, left this reader with an enlivening feeling, impatient to see what was to come. To elaborate: the absurdity-laden violence was a new twist, and hinted that the saga would be unflagging in its ongoing innovations. In tandem with this, the new characters introduced gave promise to an ever-increasing complexity which most indy books simply will not broach (for lack of possible lifespan!). Plus the ongoing storylines/battles – which are already packed with mysteries and subplots aplenty – still have spelled little directly out for the reader, meaning the ride won’t be falsely truncated to fit a modern ideal of neatly packaged, few-issue arcs. So all together? This was the most challenging issue to follow and to become immersed within, but also the most readily beguiling, with page after page of unpredictable and unbelievable (but in a good way) events.

Usually indefatigable Emmanuel "Xerx" Javier also seems to put forth his weakest effort thus far for Katharsis #3. This may have been a result of his larger workload (he’s drawing the lion’s share of the upcoming new series Drugland Security). Regardless, Javier’s action is still spectacular and ridiculously graphic, though a handful of panels were truly, out-and-out impossible to discern in detail. Which brings me to the main reason this third issue is comparatively weak next to its predecessors – both in its script and its art, Katharsis #3 moves the series from exigent to trying, from demanding to wearisome. There’s still plenty here to bring me back, and in fact as I mentioned before there’s more inborn in this issue’s plot than in any previous, but still I believe the final product to be a troublesome letdown compared to the indelibly strong, earlier opening chapters.

Katharsis as a whole is the best action-adventure (non-superhero, mind you) comic on the racks, with its own method of plot and a progressive pace which will absolutely require an open mind to enjoy. It’s as convoluted as Joe Kelly’s Steampunk and as impossible to second-guess as Automatic Kafka (though minus AK’s philosophical depth and plus the big K’s all-barrels-blazing, slugfest fiesta). If such a thing sounds like entertainment and not at all like work, then Katharsis is a series you cannot live without. It’s fanatically well-done, right down to the high-quality staples supporting its spine. Even if this latest issue wasn’t quite up to snuff, I ask you – in what true epic, especially the good ones, is every chapter equal?

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