Advance Review — ‘Junior Baker: The Righteous Faker’ #3 Remains A Visual Feast

While readers – and reviewers – may have trouble understanding the story in Junior Baker: The Righteous Faker, Ryan Quackenbush’s artwork continues to steal the show.

Not only are Quackenbush’s illustrations consistently amazing, but he shows such considerable range in each issue. This time, he focuses less on large spreads and instead varies style and color work from panel to panel.

Each change is completely motivated and appropriate to the visual story he is trying to tell. When Quackenbush tells the story of the titan Helios, his style quickly transforms to an ancient Greek design. When Junior Baker’s girlfriend has a breakdown in a department store, he overlaps images and colors to make readers feel claustrophobic. And when Junior himself loses it in his office, Quackenbush depicts the reporter as a stick figure. It’s trippy, entertaining, and incredibly effective.

Joe Casey’s story is beginning to connect to his original story from 2012’s Butcher Baker: The Righteous Maker, though that doesn’t necessarily add much clarity to the tale. At least not yet. Still, this issue is somewhat more straightforward than the last, which should keep readers holding on. After all, there are only two more chapters in this story and plenty more to (hopefully) be revealed.

Casey does give readers plenty to chew on in this issue. We learn more about what happened to the world’s superheroes and their nemeses. His work on the two mental breakdowns, combined with Quackenbush’s illustrations, make for a frenetic page-turner. Like with the rest of this story, how much of what you read and see is actually happening and how much is in the characters’ minds is open to interpretation. But it’s a good read regardless.

Whether it’s fantasy or reality, it’s a visual extravaganza. And that, by itself, is worth the price of the book.

Junior Baker: The Righteous Faker #3 will be available for purchase on November 15, 2023.