No Mercy vol. 3

I’m going to start things off with a plea for you, the reader (and, say, 3,000 of your closest friends) to go pick up this volume if you haven’t already.  Why?  Well it turns out that it’s been selling just well enough for its writer, Alex De Campi, to make exactly nothing from its publication.  So it’s not clear if there’s going to be a vol. 4 because while a lot of the character arcs in this volume are winding down, it’s going to take at least one more volume for things to be properly resolved.

As for the volume itself, you’ll be entertained so long as you’re not expecting any more of the blistering social commentary that closed out vol. 2.  The narrative for vol. 3 is also more fragmented than the previous two since most of the cast has splintered off into their own individual directions and some have even made it back to the states.  Focusing on the kids who have returned doesn’t turn out to be as novel a direction as I was expecting as they’re all lacking in the crazy drama that I’ve come to expect from this series.  Though I will say that the final issue, focusing on Anthony and his friends on their last day together in town, makes a decent enough series finale if that’s what this winds up being.

I hope not, because that would leave the drama of the kids who are still in Mataguey frustratingly unresolved.  While Sebastian’s story is surprisingly calm compared to what he endured in the previous two volumes (when he was Charlene), the arcs of Travis, and Tiffany/Deshawn make up for it.  The former makes the best mistake of his life by chasing a high of mushrooms while the kids who picked him up continue to party.  Without giving too much away, what Travis sees in the double-page spread when he wakes up and runs out to the beach is one of the biggest shocks I’ve seen in comics all year.  Tiffany and Deshawn, on the other hand endure an a stint as a negotiator in an arms deal and an emergency surgery, respectively.  Their story ends with the promise of Black Liam Neeson being called in to get them back.  So if that sounds like something you want to see, start spreading the good word about this series to everyone you know.  De Campi deserves to get paid for delivering this kind of stuff!