Fatale vol. 4: Pray for Rain

Things start off quite strong for this latest volume of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ supernatural horror noir series.  In the present, Nicholas Lash uses his time in jail to make some interesting discoveries about his uncle’s book before a meeting with his lawyer opens up an even fresher hell for him to fall into.  Then in the past, and the main story for this book, Josephine crosses paths with some one-hit Seattle grunge rockers in the mid-90’s.  They’re slowly falling apart as a group, with their leader Lance now robbing banks to get them the money they need for their latest video shoot.  However, when this strange and attractive woman comes into their lives things start to change for the better and the worse and the narrative eventually takes a turn for the conventional.

However, there’s a new twist this time and it’s that Josephine has amnesia and doesn’t fully understand her supernatural hold over members of the opposite sex.  So we get to see a less guarded and more carefree version of the character than we’ve seen before.   While that’s nice, things fall apart for the men in this volume much the same as we’ve seen before in the previous ones.  Seeing it through the lens of musicians from this specific era is interesting though it doesn’t add much to what has come before.  Brubaker’s script and story are sound, and Phillips excels as always with some cool double-page spreads that effectively showcase the impact of one particular song on the characters.  Still, “Pray For Rain” doesn’t wind up striking me as being better or worse than the other volumes I’ve read so far in this series.  With only one volume left to go, it remains to be seen if the title will wind up pulling things together for a stunning climax that elevates the whole story; or, if it’ll just settle for being the “least good” entry in the Brubaker/Phillips canon.