With Paris Island secluded to disaster as Holocaust creates a warzone on the city streets, with no one else left to oppose him, it’s up to the rest of Blood Syndicate to band together and take down Holocaust by any means necessary.
Geoffrey Thorne does a tremendous job writing this series, and in this case, this action-packed issue. There are some great moments filled with witty humor, and serious tension that is balanced yet feels grounded to the voices of today. As a New York City native, Spanish Harlem born and raised, I genuinely enjoyed the way Thorne handled the dialogue and the vernacular between the members of the Blood Syndicate. There’s something special when a writer of the culture understands the kind of characters and voices that reflect the kind of youth and neighborhoods that many of these Milestone characters reflect and stem from.
Holocaust is a convincing and intimidating antagonist that wastes no time in being all action and few words. Looking back, it’s refreshing seeing how much of a presence he has as displayed across a few of the Milestone titles up to this point, where he’s magnified as a problem that even Icon and Rocket struggled against prior. Seeing Wise Son, Aqua, Tech-9, Flashback, and Fade go head to head against Holocaust as he wreaks havoc on everything and everyone in his way is engaging. There was a twist I didn’t quite expect, but for what it’s worth, Thorne did a good job with the execution. But one thing that makes this more enjoyable is how the protagonists work together as a team, and showing that they waste no time handling their business as needed.
Chris Cross handled the art on this book and did a decent job on it. What really makes Cross’s art shine is Juan Castro’s inks and Wil Quintana’s colors, which embellished the artwork, providing beautiful textures and pallets. Andworld Design did a fine job with lettering the book, complimenting the art as needed, and making the book a decent reading experience. There is one section in the book that was lettered that got a chuckle out of me due to it reminding me of the sort of stock screams that one often finds in particular cartoons and movies. All in all, this was a nice conclusion to season one of this series and worth picking up for new comic book day.
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