Dingo #4 (of 4) (Boom! – Nelson / Biagini)
Tired of getting his ass royally kicked, Dingo goes on the offensive, with Cerberus, scores to settle, and plenty of (violent) family drama in tow. The riveting conclusion is here! A supernatural crime story in the vein of 100 BULLETS — from the writer of the hit series’ HEXED and FALL OF CTHULHU.
There is nothing worse than a pretty complex story that starts opening side-plot after side-plot with little or no conclusion (yes, my well-loved Heroes on NBC, I’m looking at you). After last month’s #3, I was tad worried that Nelson’s Dingo was walking that way after the Cerberus revealed it’s true nature and we found out the treasure that Dingo was keeping from his demonic hottie of an ex (click below to see her cover) was a tattered part of a soul in a decrepit teddy bear. Quite a few seemingly random side notes were written in the last two issues, but Michael Alan Nelson triumphantly brings it all together and closes out in a strong, fully-developed narrative.
We have already met Dingo’s absent-minded rock star brother. In this issue, we meet mom and learn about a deceased younger brother than put the whole mess in motion. Nelson’s tells the story from Dingo’s Point of View and his first person story-telling is a mix of dark noir and George Carlinish sarcastic wit. This ish is out today and well worth your comic budget. I haven’t caught wind of any talk of trading this series (even though I can’t imagine Boom doing that), but if and when that comes out it will be gold.
Once again, when we look at the series as a whole, the reader can clearly see that one of Nelson’s strength is strong story scaffolding. There is clearly no guess work here, he knew where he was going from the frame one of the first issue. All the details and characters moving toward the common goal of the plot. And he should write the text book on the perfectly paced reveal – not too fast (Spider-man) and not too slow (pick any DC major event). In all honesty, I could gush about the writing phenom that is Michael Alan Nelson all day long, so I will stop here.
As an artist, Francesco Biagini (Dead Run) does a magnificent job laying out and framing this supernatural tale – I cannot wait to see what book he his on next.
Boom! has a complete winner with this one!
Issue Grade: A
Series Grade: A
