I’m not sure if I’m being obtuse, or if Ed Brubaker is being
purposely vague. I’m not sure if the titular Fatale is immortal, or if multiple
women throughout time have served the same role as our current story.
This entire
trade is made up of interludes showing strange women with an amazing influence
over men. We get medieval times, the 1930’s, the 1880’s, and the 1940’s. The
story plays out in a similar fashion in each time period. Strange men (or
un-men) are hunting our heroine, she allies with some strange guys (who may or
may not be able to resist her influence), and we fade to black.
This is an effective tragedy, and it is a great work of
world-building. Clearly this is some sort of immortal battle that has raged on
for a long time. It sure seems like the cultists are hunting the Fatales in
order to sacrifice the women to some dark, Cthullian entity. What happens then?
I’m not exactly clear. There also isn’t a direct connection to the story taking
place in the present.
While I find myself very interested and invested in each
tale printed in this trade, I’m having an extremely hard time remember what the
greater plot is. I think I might have to re-read some of the earlier volumes
before I move on to book 4. I’m just not clear on what Brubaker is trying to
say here.
Sean Phillips can hop from era to era and not bat an eye.
Fatale maintains her look, but with time-appropriate fashions, and every single
one of the supporting male protectors looks like he could star in a film
version of the story. The gore is very startling and striking, but never over
the top (well, not too much.) I also love it when Phillips gets to draw the
REALLY crazy stuff, like the weird bird-ghost slicing up some dude in the woods.
Those scenes in the haunted forest are my favorite in the trade.
So this is still a very GOOD series, I just worry I’ve lost
track of the overall plot!
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