COMIC BOOK REVIEW: Men of Wrath #5 – The Wrath Moment

Jason Aaron and Ron Garney show us readers once again how a great story like Men of Wrath end unexpectedly. Unexpected in the strictest sense that we are rooting or invested on the characters we supposedly feel worth redeeming, reliving, and rejoicing, particularly how the penultimate issue was starting to set up for the younger protagonist. But alas, the master storyteller of anything gritty and Southern way of life crafts with almost perfection an ending so mind-bungling; we are left wondering if ever there will be a sequel or trilogy.

At first glance, this concluding chapter, Men of Wrath #5 – may be a straightforward tale of old-fashioned rage-revenge-fuel tale and no (almost) redemption to the cursed family. But, the immortal adage “expect the unexpected” works perfectly on Aaron’s favor, and still fulfills the promise of one of the Raths shall die and another, live. This chapter alone reads like a Clint Eastwood-Western masterpiece, such as The Unforgiven, with the big twist. So twisting it demands to be reread to put sense out of the one heck of the ride the creative team carefully executed.

What made this ultimate part stands further is how the artist interpreted Aaron’s vision. Upon closer inspection, this is the most minimalist of all the series. There are a couple of pages devoted to the supposed dream sequence colored entirely in black with only dialogues implying a big family reunion. And to think about it, it has the same page number with the rest of the series, unlike many end-chapter issues whose pagination (including price, and sometimes delays) increased. Yet, that’s the beauty of a well-synchronized collaboration. The quality of the story never compromises at all despite its relative thin sized appearance. Garney’s art serves the purpose so well, a no-holds barred graphic illustration without resorting to massive and unnecessary visuals of excessive gore and over-the-top violence (read: bloodbath galore, Quentin Tarantino-esque treatment). Thus, it may be a minimal and rigid work, but appropriate to the overall narrative nevertheless.

Speaking of gritty, there are times that I feel that this finale is akin to the superhero-antihero genre. In one of the most brutal showdowns ever conceived yet, I am witnessing a death defying confrontation that really defies logic that borderline to the likes of the Punisher, Batman, Captain America, and other non-super powered counterparts. But upon reflecting Aaron’s previous works, most particularly his first and most critically-acclaimed masterpiece, Scalped, I realize why that kind of blazing one-man demolition showdown moment is what defines JASON AARON, including his brand of narrative that really carries the whole series as well.

And lastly, some readers may be confused with the Southern American accent the characters utter, most especially the female one. One says that her dialogues are described as improper sentence constructs that are a bit a challenged to comprehend at first (perhaps due to her background as Aaron intents with). Similar with the Southern characters all throughout, non-Western American readers have to reread to make sense what they are to convey.

Jason Aaron and Ron Garney truly deliver their promise in this final (?) installment of cursed-driven family. They give us a bittersweet finale in the most unexpected way yet. For the mean time, let’s enjoy Aaron’s other tales like The Southern Bastards and Thor.