Business Picks Up In Sharkey The Bounty Hunter #3
by Brendan M. Allen
Sharkey comes face-to-face with the fugitive who’ll bring him his fortune, but gets slammed by the cops before he can bring her in and claim his bounty. Can Sharkey and Extra-Billy come up with an escape plan while Edra flees across the galaxy?
Not exactly face-to-face, though, is it? At the end of the last chapter, Sharkey got caught out by Edra Deering, who popped up behind the stalwart moustache with a blaster that she promptly applied to the back of his bald purple dome. Sharkey the Bounty Hunter #3 opens up right there. SBH, with a blaster aimed at his face. Extra-Billy back on the Snow-Cone. Shots are fired. Sharkey is pretty good at this stuff, but Edra’s actually sort of a badass grandma. Police arrive and the bounty takes off. Sharkey’s not so quick.
The first couple chapters were good, but they felt a little slow. We’re now half way through this mini, and business is picking up. This is the pop I wanted to see in the last chapter. Mark Millar uses chapter three to introduce a couple characters from Sharkey’s past, but even that exchange happens in the middle of a firefight, so it barely slows the pace up at all. Dialogue in this chapter is especially sharp, and we get to see a side of the little green guy that you had to know was coming, but was still nicely handled.
I’ve said in reviews of previous chapters that I love Simone Bianchi’s character design and visual world-building. The new characters all have distinct, interesting looks. Settings are rich and detailed, for the most part. This chapter is heavy on the action so we get to see Bianchi flex his fight scene muscles. The firefight and um…other thing? are chaotic and tense, but easy to follow. I do still wish we’d get to see a little more space in this space western. There are a couple panels where we’re actually IN space, hanging off spacecraft wings and stuff, and the backgrounds are…white.
Three chapters in, three to go. This chapter turned the corner for the series. The first couple chapters were interesting, sure, but now we’re headed somewhere. Moustachioed swagger, granny with a gun, ex-wife from hell, green kid with secret talents…Yes! Let’s blow some shit up.
Sharkey the Bounty Hunter #3 (of 6), Image Comics, released 24 April 2019. Written by Mark Millar, art/color by Simone Bianchi, color assist by Simone Peruzzi, letters by Peter Doherty.
