Errand Boys #3 - Image Comics

ERRAND BOYS No. 3, December 2018

Despite its titular characters spending a significant portion of this twenty-two page periodical being tied up awaiting a decidedly grisly death, D.J. Kirkbride’s script for Issue Three of “Errand Boys” must still have quickened the pulse-rates of its 1,849 readers in December 2018, with his fascinatingly emotional insight into the life-long failings of Jace Lopaz. True, some of this self-reflection simply goes to show what an utterly incompetent delivery man the “lifelong solo act” really is, as time slows down around him and the "hard-worn scoundrel” disconcertingly discovers that the the increased speed of his thought processes does not provide "some cool realisation of how to save to day.” But for the most part, the thirty-year old man’s meditations revolve around just how badly he’s misled his half-brother, and how much he seemingly regrets doing so; “The full weight of bringing a little tweener into this kind of world and life is hitting Jace: Hard.”

Fortunately however, the “writer on Image's Eisner and Harvey Award-winning Popgun anthologies” doesn’t dwell upon such dark feelings to the detriment of this publication’s pleasing pace, as he cleverly intermixes the scenes set within the confines of a wooden cage with plenty of tongue-in-cheek cannibalistic shenanigans, courtesy of the incredibly colourful dirt pirates. These evidently ravenous criminals are quite wonderfully penned, and are clearly armed with all manner of spices, seasoning, cooking options and even a “booze hat.”

In addition, once Jace does manage to escape from his captors and Tawnk cuts the baby vazgog free, then things really do start to heat up to the point where the creative team’s aspiration for this comic to develop into a “critical darling for those looking to add a high-octane adventure story to their pull-list” definitely becomes a reality. The Lopaz brothers’ headlong dash for freedom is phenomenally frantic and even manages to become extra heroic once the blue-skinned Theian convinces his older sibling to snatch “the big one’s cleaver” and turn their escape into a bona fide rescue mission.

Imbuing all this soul-searching and sense-shattering monkeyshines with plenty of alluring animation are Nikos Koutsis’ story-boards, which help enormously in depicting both the adolescent worry upon poor Tawnk’s face at the deadly dilemma he finds himself in, as well as the hair-raising foot-chase through an utterly chaotic cut-throats camp towards the end of this book. The Greek artist also draws a mean dirt pirate, with the band of criminals coming in all physical shapes, sizes and palettes.

Written by: D.J. Kirkbride, and Drawn & Colored by: Nikos Koutsis