Review– ‘You’ll Do Bad Things’ #3 Meanders

It is said that a foolish consistency is indeed the hobgoblin of simple minds. If that’s truly the case, then the creative team behind You’ll Do Bad Things should have nothing to worry about. The problem is that this series needs some more consistency in the quality of its storytelling.

The first issue never seemed to find itself, only to be followed by a strong sophomore outing which really drove the story along. Now in the third issue – halfway through the limited series’ six-chapter run – we’re back to meandering. It’s almost as if writer Tyler Boss has too many pages to fill and not enough characters and plot to do it with.

The premise remains interesting. A successful writer, Seth Holms, is struggling to write his second book. The first, a non-fiction account of a brutal serial killer, was a bestseller. Now he wants to write a romance novel, but has hit an extreme writers block. Every romantic situation he starts writing about ends in bloodshed.

If that sounds interesting, it is. Unfortunately, there’s just not enough of it in this issue. For some reason, this chapter starts in a strip club – which certainly grabs readers’ attention, but doesn’t accomplish much more than that. While the last page is interesting – if not expected – it doesn’t make up for the rest of the book’s shortcomings.

Artist Adriani Turtulici continues to impress with his use of color. Turtulici uses just a few colors on each panel – think blacks and muted purples – then throws in a pink or something that pops to focus the reader’s attention. It’s effective, but ultimately not enough.

You’ll Do Bad Things is a series that you want to like more than you actually do. If it could only tell a tight, compelling story without getting in its own way, it would do exactly that. With three more issue left, there’s still time to correct the mistakes of the past and drive to a great conclusion.