Blowtorch #3 - Second Sight Publishing

BLOWTORCH No. 3, March 2022

Despite creator Alfred Paige’s understandable upset at this comic being two pages short due to “a printing error”, there’s still arguably plenty of pulse-pounding pugilism to enjoy in Issue Three of “Blowtorch”, courtesy of its publication-long punch-up, an utterly insane car chase to the steps of a Mesoamerican pyramid, and simply stunning, purposely planned plane crash. Indeed, for those bibliophiles who like their senses to be persistently assailed by eye-winching socks to the jaw and catastrophic explosions Alex De-Gruchy’s adrenalin-fuelled plot has all their bases covered; “Stay down, ladies. This is probably only gonna get messier.”

Furthermore, there’s a good deal of banter to be enjoyed between both this book’s titular character and mean-spirited partner Pinpoint, as well as with its main masked antagonist Davenport. Rather neatly inserted amidst all the sense-shattering shenanigans, these tense verbal exchanges actually provide some much-needed exposition as to why Avery Davis’ two top C.H.E.S.S. black ops agents are at something of a distinct disadvantage in trying the capture their formidable target alive – especially once Blowtorch quite foolishly makes “the middleman” aware of their mission’s overriding objective.

Setting aside all the bone-crunching blows, showers of hot lead and high-octane antics, this comic’s narrative also provides some nice interpersonal development between Richard Kinkaid and James Washington, as the two widely contrasting team-mates temporarily set aside their differences with one another so as to semi-successfully conclude their latest assignment. Such growth is debatably quite unusual when it comes to action-focused storylines, so Pinpoint’s eventual begrudging acceptance of Blowtorch as squad leader is one of the highlights of the twenty-page periodical.

Perhaps therefore this book’s sole quibble lies with some of J.C. Grande’s over-enthusiastic layouts, which are occasionally so crammed full of debris and destruction, that it makes it difficult to discern who is hitting who. These exuberantly pencilled and heavily inked panels prove particularly frustrating to navigate when it comes to some of the scenes depicting Infrared’s no-holds barred battle with a similarly souped-up automaton, as both robots appear quite similar in their appearance as they brutally batter their way through a series of walls, ceilings and other steel-supported structures. Indeed somewhat disconcertingly, it may well take some fans a few read-throughs of the fight's final stages to fully gather which android actually won.

Creator/Story: Alfred Paige, Plots/Writer: Alex De-Gruchy, and Pencils & Inks: J.C. Grande