Review - Winter City #5

A discourse with death is never encouraged, unless you're Death. At that point, you're just accelerating the arrival of your next victim. When you're serving Death's justice on the other hand, that discourse seems a lot more inviting. What's not inviting is being on the other side, as Vernon Paul finds out in Winter City #5.

The fifth issue is written by Carl and Patrick Purcell (lettered by Patrick), penciled and inked by Pablo Verdugo Munoz and colored by David Aravena Riquelme.

The terror moving through the city and viciously killing wealthy individuals continues his spree, with Vernon Paul being his latest victim. Paul was a defense lawyer for a particularly unsavory gentleman named Edward Smittz. Smittz was a man who played fast and loose with real estate for his own personal financial gains and decided he didn't like whistleblowers. All of that makes Paul a target and puts the eerie vigilante in a tight spot.

At nearly the halfway point of the series, the story has more or less taken shape. That is to say, Winter City #5 isn't one you can pick up and just jump right into. No, it's one that rewards the readers of the first four issues prior to it, presenting more information about Sam Winters, the troubled youth desperately seeking a meaning to his life. His uncle taught him to be strong and ignore weakness, prompting him to find solace in a place of hatred and revenge. It's not an original origin to be sure, but the Purcell's make sure that Winter's troubled past is so harsh that it engenders empathy in the reader.

In the present, the terror continues killing some key players in the city. The beauty of the fifth issue is that there's a bit more revealed about why he could possibly be going after all them. There's also backstory regarding the Scarfts that helps tie together quite a few loose ends, positioning the story to evolve. It forces you to question what justifies good and evil. Even those who don't necessarily commit a crime can be more evil than one who does commit a crime.

If you're reading Winter City #5, you're coming for the story and definitely staying for the art. Munoz and Riquelme continue to do nothing short of phenomenal work on the artistic front, helping the book avoid falling into pages drenched in blood and violence. Panel layouts are edged with thick, black borders, divvying up the pages into some interesting presentations. Their art is truly remarkable and is just so good and polished.

As a series, Winter City is just awesome. The story is really growing into itself while the art is equally as powerful. It's a complete package that cements itself as a series that you should definitely check out if you haven't been already. It's almost halfway done and Winter City #5 primes the Grim Reaper to get even more in the thick of things.

Winter City #5 should be available soon.