Review - Winter City #6

"Don't worry. My team will go in real easy. They can handle this."

Sometimes assault team cops get a little full of themselves. They allow the fact that they're covered in S.W.A.T. gear and have fully automatic weapons to cloud the reality that they might be up against something they're not quite prepared for. Of course, saying it's going to be easy jinxes things and leads to more chaos in the form of Winter City #6.

The issue is written by Carl and Patrick Purcell, penciled by Pablo Verdugo Munoz and colored by David Aravena Riquelme.

The residence of Vernon Paul has garnered even more attention at the start of the issue, with the police on hand thinking they have the serial killer cornered. Naturally, Detective Marshall Daniels is in a little over his head as the takedown doesn't quite as smoothly as it did planning it. Some downed agents and a few grenades later and things are getting even dicier for the good detective.

From a story standpoint, Winter City #6 relied heavily on action in the present and conversation in the past as narration. The Purcells inserted flashbacks to a young Sam Winters, continuing to live under the harsh rule of his uncle. Only these scenes involve a small girl, attempting to speak to Sam's humanity. The relationship between the two of them is actually a bright spot amidst the grittiness of the rest of the series, as it shows that Sam as a youth had the capacity for love.

Munoz and Riquelme must be having a blast with the art, because every panel drips quality. Many of the present day panels feature the killer having his way with the incoming police and it's done in a way that is easy to follow and fluid. The last few pages depict a creeping evil very effectively, helping to set up the back-end of the 12-issue series. Some of the illustrations just look like they're illustrated with anger, accented by harsh lines for a harsh world.

There's some crazy things happening in Winter City, only the police have no idea what they're up against. The killer is targeting those who've failed the city (only without a bow and arrows), but there's clearly more to him than this. The girl in the flashbacks is being positioned to be a big influence in the life of Sam Winters and it wouldn't surprise me if she ends being tied to (or is) the killer. Speculation aside, this is a great issue that shows a master of his craft at work.

Winter City #6 should be in stores now.

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