JENNIFER BLOOD (VOL. 2) #4, from Dynamite Comics on January 5th, 2022, pays a visit to Bountiful on Piss Day (yes, that’s right… Piss Day) as federal agents arrive for mandatory drug screenings of the town’s unsavory residents.
The Details
- Written By: Fred Van Lente
- Art By: Vincenzo Federici
- Colors By: Dearbhla Kelly
- Letters By: Jeff Eckleberry
- Cover Art By: Lucio Parrillo (cover A)
- Cover Price: $3.99
- Release Date: January 5, 2022
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Was It Good?
JENNIFER BLOOD (VOL. 2) #4 takes readers for a visit to Bountiful’s hospital where we find the loonier side of its residents. The Jennifer Blood series stands apart from most crime titles out right now for its grindhouse levels of violence, a schadenfreude-laden story that holds up against the best revenge films, and an oh-so-sweet touch of black humor. So far, the series has focused on Blood dispatching a stereotypical collection of criminals, from violent gangsters to child predators. In this issue, we get to see the less typical brands of criminals and it’s a treat to see what the creators come up with in the form of payback.
Comeuppance aside, this issue is focused on Giulietta Romeo’s incessant goal to find and kill Blood. Van Lente demonstrates how Romeo is a master assassin through the use of keen detective work and wits and not just expert killing tactics. We don’t get much of Blood in this issue, but we do get a lot of Romeo’s skills and we consequently learn that Blood has a formidable foe gunning for her. Van Lente has created a keen, dangerous character and, by building out Romeo to more impressive levels with each issue, is building up heaps of anticipation for what may happen in the showdown.
That’s a lot of blathering to say Van Lente is creating a whole range of depraved, dangerous, cunning criminals, and it’s a perfect pairing for Blood’s brand of violent justice.
A quick word on the art. It’s very good. Admittedly, this is a dialog-heavy issue, and except for one action scene toward the end of the book, it’s all about character work and exposition through well-worded dialog. Therefore, the art team’s heavy lifting focuses on keeping the conversations dynamic and engaging through the use of big facial emoting and interesting panel angles. You can tell the art is great when most of the issue revolves around people talking and you don’t feel like you’re just reading.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
Giulietta Romeo is hot on Jennifer Blood’s trail. Find out how she wound up in Bountiful’s hospital in our JENNIFER BLOOD (VOL. 2) #3 review.
We begin in Bountiful’s hospital where the mayor is in a medically induced coma and Giulietta Romeo is recovering from her last scrap with Jennifer Blood. A scrap she lost badly. Fortunately, the biggest threats in the hospital are the excessively bland food and a nurse with a criminal past of psychotically killing her patients. Romeo uses her rest and recovery time to pour over Jennifer Blood’s journal and records, making a key discovery – Jennifer Blood had two children.
Before Romeo can dig into this potentially valuable discovery the FBI arrives for what everyone irritatingly refers to as Piss Day. Since the mayor is in a medically-induced coma, it falls to Romeo as the appointed sheriff to chase down the list of names provided by the FBI for urine samples for mandatory drug screening. Of course, Bountiful has a routine they follow for this day involving a gaggle of trafficked prostitutes the criminals keep on hand for just such an occasion.
As the pissing commences, Romeo uncovers a key piece of information around how Blood is entering and leaving Bountiful without detection. We conclude the issue with Blood showing she’s an equal-opportunity executioner, the FBI receiving an equal amount of blood with their piss, and Romeo putting facial recognition software to good use.
Final Thoughts
JENNIFER BLOOD (VOL. 2) #4 could rightly be called the “medical” issue as the murder, mayhem, and misdeeds span everything from psycho killer nurses to drug testing gone wrong. The art is exceptional when you consider how engaging the visuals are for a dialog-heavy issue, and the character work on the main villain not only builds out the character to a formidable level but indirectly builds anticipation for the showdown.
Score: 9/10
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