The Ends

Four months ago, Jennifer End and Angelo Rodriguez fell in love.  Then Jennifer had to go home to her “old fashioned” family to wait for when she could see Angelo again.  That chance came when her grandfather fell and injured himself and she readily volunteered to help nurse him for the summer – not too far from where her new boyfriend is.  Though this seems like the setup for a perfect summer, Jennifer was selling her family’s old fashioned-ness a bit short.  While her parents would likely have had an issue with how she’s now dating a Mexican, her brother Jack is a full-on skinhead.  So when he finds out, he decides that’s all the reason he needs to brand his sister a race-traitor, call up his friends, and have them all turn Angelo’s quiet coastal home into a warzone.

“The Ends” is the first comic I’ve read from Bad Idea, who’ve been making a name for themselves with their high-concept comics from notable creative teams.  This comes from the “Stray Bullets” team of David and Maria Lapham, with David providing the art, and is something of a highbrow B-movie where a small town full of WWII vets fights off a bunch of skinheads.  It’s a good (and depressingly timely) premise that the Laphams get some decent mileage over the course of the three extra-sized issues in this collection.

The thing is that while I like seeing a bunch of rotten skinheads get what’s coming to them, the creators take a bit too much time building up their threat before delivering what they deserve.  I understand the need to establish the characters, and the “Romeo & Juliet” nature of Jennifer and Angelo’s relationship, but the story is almost two-thirds over before the fight back really begins.  There’s some good Nazi-killin’ action when it finally does, even though the whole package ultimately felt a little slight for what it promised, and what I know its creators are capable of… in the end.

*rimshot*