Review - Winter City #3

Every sin has a price is true. The saying goes along well with "you reap what you sow," but it's likely your sins and crimes aren't punished like they are in Winter City #3.

Published by Winter City Productions, the third issue is written by Carl and Patrick Purcell, with Pablo Verdugo Munoz on pencils and inks and David Aravena Riquelme on colors.

The third issue in the series was a bit more balanced in terms of spending time with Sam Winter as a youth and with the vengeful being soliciting payment for sins in the form of murders. The target in this issue is Donald Swanson, paying for his failure to stop the murder of two innocent people.

Swanson has a lot in common with the previous two victims, Alan Mclean and Franklin Skyles, and all three have done business with each other in the past. They've also done business with some of the less upstanding members of Winter City in the mobs and it's that affiliation that has them facing death earlier than planned.

By the third issue, Winter City is slowing down its pace a bit and settling in. The first two issues spent more time with the killer seeking penance, but the third issue the reader spends more time with Sam Winters. He's older now at 12 and his complex relationship with his uncle is sussed out a bit.

It's easy to say that his uncle is abusive for the sake of being abusive, but there are some segments in the third issue that create this sense of pity for him. He comes across as genuinely wanting to prepare Sam for whatever life throws at him, albeit in a somewhat aggressive and violent way.

The art by Munoz and Riquelme continues to impress. The third issue doesn't seem to have as much of that "wow" factor in the art. It's not because it's gotten worse or anything; quite the contrary as it continues to astound. The city continues to be illustrated as a living entity which really adds it as a character. It makes it seem like the killer is part of it and is doing its bidding in a way. In short, the art continues to impress and be top notch.

Winter City #3 has a slower pace than the previous two. The detectives are continuing the case and there's little linking the victims so far other than the fact that they're each being punished for a specific sin. It remains to be seen whether or not there's a grander motive at play, but Winter City as a series continues to show why it deserves to be published by one of the big boys.

Winter City #3 is available now.