Posted in: Comics | Tagged: aftershock, garth ennis, Jimmy's Bastards, Russ Braun

Jimmy's Bastards #5 Review: Playing Catch With The Son

Nancy has been captured, while Jimmy comes face to face with Junior as well as numerous more of his children. All the while, the city at large is still being affected by the Gender Fluid.

Jimmy's Bastards #5 continues the wall-to-wall wild ride that one should come to expect from this series. Jimmy himself continues to be a repulsive human being, but he does show a minute amount of humanity in this issue when confronted with his children.

Then, of course, there is the wonderful bloodshed, and there is plenty of it in this issue. There is an especially enjoyable fight sequence in a helicopter which ends with a whole lot of dead people. Russ Braun and Guy Major bring their A-game to this issue in terms of exquisitely brutal fight scenes.

The Gender Fluid angle is a bit odd. I'm not sure if it's making a point about the fluidity of gender or poking fun at the idea. As it is on the page, it's just throwing the contentious idea out there without really making a point about it. That's weak satire, but it still leads to some—unforgettable panels.

There are other moments where they make jokes adjacent to hot-button issues and using contentious language, but they don't really make a point either way. For another example, there is a joke about "being triggered" and "safe spaces," but it's made after that character has been given some genuinely traumatic information which would make just about anyone catatonic. So, I'm not sure what point they're trying to make, and that's not good satire.

That being said, the vast majority of the issue is exciting and enjoyable, and the aforementioned artwork of Braun and coloring of Major brings the story to life in a compelling manner.

Consequently, Jimmy's Bastards #5 gets a strong recommendation. It has its flaws, most of which come from the South Park method of trying anything to get a rise out of the audience. However, the overall experience was positive, and I had a lot of fun reading it. Give this one a read if you have the tolerance for a lot of gore and some pretty messed up concepts.

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