Advance Review: Fighting The Good Fight In ‘August: Purgatory Underground’ #3

Fistfights are not always the easiest battles to follow in comic books. Depicting the precise actions and reactions takes quite a bit of skill – both to script and to draw.

With about one-third of this issue is dedicated to a donnybrook, things could easily have grown confusing, running the risk of leaving the reader wondering what is going on and potentially putting the book down. Luckily, writer and artist Benjamin Morse displays his talents and turns the fight into a highlight of the issue.

The fisticuffs in question pit hero Abraham August against evil Baron Siegan. In a previous series, August stopped Siegan’s attack on Earth at the cost of the baron’s wife. Siegan narrowly escaped death, only to be reborn as an apparently unstoppable cyborg bent of destroying Earth and the federation that August serves.

The bare-fisted, knock-down fight doesn’t go well for August, though, and he spends the rest of the issue recovering from his wounds – both physically and mentally. But, as they say it doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down, but rather how many times you get back up.

As August recovers, Morse spends the rest of the issue setting up the upcoming final installment in the series. It’s an interesting balance with the action from the first part of the issue. Some of that exposition is needed, but too much time is spent, and it makes the issue feel a bit uneven.

There’s a lot at stake and several plot lines to resolve with only one more issue in this series. August needs to stop the baron from destroying the Earth and federation headquarters – and he also wants to restore his good name, which was sullied after his last battle with the baron. If Morse can structure the final issue correctly, we should be in for a satisfying ending.

August: Purgatory Underground #3 will be available for purchase on October 19, 2022.