With issue #5 of Dry County, this Image Comic miniseries gasps to a halt.
As writer and artist Rich Tommaso’s newest title, Dry County, with Lou Rossi as its main character, had a fantastic start. Lou, working as a cartoonist in Florida, had met a woman he was interested in. Suddenly, she vanished, and the search for her was on.
With various twists, turns and topsy-turvy events keeping us entertained, we tagged along with Lou, as he traveled around south Florida.
A clue here, a clue there, with lots of wacky characters and situations thrown in for good measure.
How does it all wind up? Well, it’s not my place to say, obviously, but Tommaso attempts to stitch the various clues and strands of narrative together to conclude things. There are lots of silent panels, some scenes have the story being told in sequential art format only. Which is wonderful, except a bit of a jarring change when we are accustomed to a more descriptive narrative.
I’m not altogether satisfied with the tone and pacing of this issue, frankly. It reminds me too much of those TV episodes that are all puzzling and mysterious, with people sneaking around, doing strange things for an hour. And then everything is finally explained by the detective in the last few minutes of the show. Who knew that the butler was her first cousin, and the ring that was found was from King Henry the VIII, THAT’s why he killed the night auditor. Oh, THAT’S why!!!
But points to Tommaso for trying something new and quirky; his is some of the most refreshingly original work in mainstream indie comics these days.
Image Comics, Dry County #5, $3.99 for 23 pages of content. Mature readers.
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