Review: ‘Rumpus Room’ #4 Is A Tense, Nailbiter Of An Issue

While Mark Russell has made quite the name for himself as one of the best satirists working in comics today, in Rumpus Room #4 he also shows he’s no slouch at psychological horror either. As our hero, Police Detective Hernandez, escapes from her imprisonment at the hands of the highly unhinged billionaire, Bob Schrunk, the reader is hit with that sinking feeling that foreshadows her inevitable recapturing. While she runs to the arts of the law — her brethren in arms — Schrunk uses his vast resources to effectively compromise the LA police force into doing his bidding. It’s that desperate, depressing realisation that there’s nowhere to turn to, nowhere to run. She really is all on her own. 

And that’s just the start of her problems in this gripping issue.

And while the narrative is dark the same cannot be said of the bright, light, modernity of the backdrop against all of this is played out, beautifully captured and sustained by artist Ramon Rosanas. It’s a wonderfully realised world of opulence and vulgar wealth, with the real-life billionaires, which Schrunk is a composite for, posing the true horrors in our contemporary society today. Not a point lost on Russell, who writes a damn fine unhinged billionaire when needed. 

The shock twist on the very last page may catch the reader off guard with much of what else going on in this issue, but it’s a nail biter from start to finish with a final issue that cannot come fast enough for this humble reviewer.

Rumpus Room #4 is out now from AWA.