Savage Things is published by DC Comics under their Vertigo imprint. It is written by Justin Jordan with art by Ibrahim Moustafa.
The amount of mind-fucks this series has given me is pretty impressive. I mean that in a good way. Every time, I feel like it jumps back and forth from who the “bad guy” was. I mean, all the old dudes who created Operation Black Forest, obviously, but I mean between Cain and Abel.
Sometimes in the flashbacks it seems like Cain is the instigator, that he’s the one who was more “corrupt” , other times, it seems like its actually Abel’s fault that Cain became what he did. But then it’s like Cain pushed him to push him back. It’s all part of someone’s plan. A very elaborate plan to royally destroy the psyche of two 12-year-old boys.
But here we find that Cain stabbed Abel. And Abel fought back, even though he wasn’t supposed to. There was only supposed to be one of them. We also find out that was a huge fib because now there is a female version of Black Forest known as Blue Ocean, and Kira is a top tier agent for them (I called it). While she is clearly very skilled and highly trained in combat and interrogation, she doesn’t seem to be as sociopathic as Cain and Abel. So…they learned something from their mistakes I guess? Either way, it’s still hard to tell if Abel has figured out what Kira is, but to be honest, I think he has. He’s incredibly smart. Kira is the one who shines in this issue though. Getting stabbed in the leg without even flinching, ripping said knife out of her leg with her teeth, biting her own tongue to make it bleed so she can spit in Cain’s face and temporarily blind him long enough for Abel to attack. She goes into full badass mode. While Abel fights Cain, it’s Kira who leaps in to action to disarm the shitload of bombs Cain has lined up. I know the story is about them, but damn, she was the star in this issue. And she earned it. I was so pleased.
As much as I love the action, and the action is REALLY good in this issue, my favorite parts are always the flashbacks. Because with all the mayhem and tension and violence, these scenes feel so…quiet. Don’t get me wrong, they have some violence too, but it isn’t the same. It’s not like watching an action movie, but a psychological thriller. The way Justin Jordan separates these two things but also inserts them between each other is perfect. And the flashback is always relevant to the current situation. It’s very well thought out. And Ibrahim Moustafa’s art is always just on point. I just love to look at it. There’s so much detail in the characters’ eyes and facial expressions. Like, you can SEE the sarcasm on Cain’s face without having to read the dialogue. You can see the hurt in child Abel’s eyes even though he is supposed to look pissed out.
Details like that are so incredible and so important. Like I said, they’ve really thought this out. You can tell.
OVERALL SCORE: 9 / 10
Betrayal, action, even a totally stereotypical both guys flying horizontally through the air and shooting at each other moment. Which I loved. And it didn’t have the cliché everyone goes home happy ending either. However, Abel was all proud of himself for saving the city from bombs…and then he shoots down a helicopter…straight down into the city…so like…that kind of backfired, right? That was exactly what you were trying to prevent! Still, an excellent issue that you should make sure you don’t miss out on.
Make sure you pick up a copy of Savage Things #7 from your local comic store!
Happy reading!
