Hardboiled crime gets deep fried in Jason Latour’s terrific Loose Ends. The lowdown country noir serves up southern comfort for fans of books like Criminal and Scalped, and that’s no small thing.
From Loose Ends #1, art by Chris Brunner
Sonny Gibson rolls back into his home town, settling in for the evening on the porch of a honky tonk called Bobbi’s Hideaway. He wags a Benjamin for a bucket of Natty Ice and goes about forgetting as much as he can. He’s got a trunk full of cash and a gun he’d rather not use, but between the beer and the ex-girlfriend–new haircut, same smile–he’s hanging on to the moment. But he’s in for a grindhouse stomp when some townies lure a waitress into the men’s room and things start breaking.
Latour writes a splendid knuckle-buster and artist Chris Brunner is a more than able wingman, sending Sonny through a bold, blotchy frenzy and presenting some tremendous pool-hall atmosphere. It’s a gorgeous book with two great visual styles: a vibrant blur of pastel tone and heavy lines for the present and a series of scratchier monotone dot-pitch sequences for the flashbacks. Both styles are exceptionally expressive and bursting with energy, perfect compliments to this grungy, sexy yarn. And the storytelling is top notch stuff.
from Loose Ends #2, art by Chris Brunner
If you love books like Criminal or Scalped, this one’s as easy a recommendation as I can think of. Jason Aaron even calls it “Clever as a weasel.” I haven’t even mentioned the parallel story, which involves a couple of Omar Little style crooks who storm the safe house of some drug dealers to plunder, pillage, and pulverize everyone between them and the spoils. All of this ties to Sonny, who’s snowballing into some raucous trouble. I’m excited to see what’s next, but I hope you’ll join me.
The first two issues of Loose Ends are available now on Graphicly.
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The FCBD issue of this really caught my attention. Issue one was great, and was hoping someone would give it some love online. Paul, as a fan of crime comics, I thank you.
Nice. I was curious about this one last night while at the shop. I like that it’s magazine sized, and the art really caught my eye. Think I’ll give it a whirl.
Paul,
Based on your recommendation I just bought this book from Graphicly. It’s the first purchase I’ve made on their app.
Hope this doesn’t open a can of worms for you, but having you review and recommend had everything to do with my purchase (hint, hint Micah).
Thank you for showing some love for Loose Ends. I got to meet Brunner, Latour, and Renzi at Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find in Charlotte when issue #1 released. They were really cool guys, and they were giving out free autographs to anybody who bought the issue on the day that it came out. Really cool people who live in the city that I love. I loved the first two issues, and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here. I hate that it’s only four issues though, as I could definitely get into this for the long haul.
Looks like my kind of series. Will have to check it out.
Looks good. Love a good crime comic.
Ok I am interested will trade wait.
One of the best comics I’ve read in years. Everyone, buy it so they’ll make more.
Damn, damn, damn… this is what comics are all about!! The perfect symmetry of story and art combined into a brass knuckled punch to the frontal lobe. I dig the hell out of this series! can’t wait for part three!
Love love love this series. I was lucky enough to have one of the ladies at my LCS recommend this series when the first issue came out.