Written by Rachel Freeman
Savage Things is published by DC Comics under their Vertigo imprint. It is written by Justin Jordan with art by Ibrahim Moustafa.
Savage Things is a comic that I could totally see being a hit TV show. It’s like if Ziva David from NCIS teamed up with John Wick. That’s basically the dynamic we have with Abel, the super badass-kind of crazy-special ops trained-killing machine, alongside Kira, the intelligent and dedicated detective who isn’t afraid of anything and could totally wreck if she wanted to, but also isn’t trying to just kill whoever gets in her way (unlike Abel…he’ll kill anybody he feels he needs to). If that pitch isn’t enough to get you reading, I don’t know what is.
As with the past three issues, we are given some insight into the history of the Black Forest program. We are plunging further into the backstory of Cain and Abel, and it seems to be showing us that Cain was the weaker of the two. Abel was superior to him, but he also helped Cain to become better. My theory is that somewhere along the way, Cain snapped and couldn’t come back. They must have done something pretty damn intense. Because, as we have seen, Cain isn’t just a talented killer, Cain is blood-thirsty, Cain is chaos.
Although he is calculated, he’s clearly mad at the same time. We also know he clearly must have some kind of charisma to get all of these other people willing to die for whatever “cause” he’s got in mind. Most importantly, Cain knows how to play against Abel. Despite how close he is, Abel must decide between chasing Cain or saving Kira and he (kind of to my shock) goes back for Kira. No, I don’t think it’s some, “I’ve only known you a day but I’m in love with you” deal, I think Abel respects her and honestly, I think he needs her if he’s going to put an end to this. She’s really all he’s got because no one else wants to take on this incredibly dangerous mission. To be honest, Abel choosing Kira and the scenes that followed were the highlight of this issue.
There is a lot more going on with Kira than we see on the surface. There’s no way she’s just some special agent. She recovers from almost dying via being crushed by dead bodies WAY too fast. Not only that, but she was definitely peeking back to see how Abel was reacting to her tearful show. The plot thickens! I’m also glad we saw the humane side of Abel, he saved Kira’s life and even talked her down (at least, that’s what she wants him to think. Round it all up with a cool fight of Abel and Kira vs. axe-throwing masked guy and you’ve got a damn good read.
OVERALL SCORE: 9 / 10
Ultimately, not a whole lot of action in this issue, just lots of things on fire…but it’s absolutely worth the read! Make sure you pick up a copy from your local comic store.
Happy reading!
