Advance Review: ‘No Man’s Land’ #4 Unsatisfyingly Reveals The Killer
by Tom Smithyman
Every hero needs a worthy adversary. That antagonist must be a true threat to the good guy, or the conflict lacks the necessary drama. And to make matters more interesting, the villain needs to be familiar to the hero and the audience.
As No Man’s Land reaches its conclusion in this fourth issue, the killer is finally revealed. Normally, to say much more would enter into spoiler territory. But that’s not the case here. And that’s precisely the problem with this once great story’s ending.
The killer is someone we haven’t met before. That’s not surprising given the dearth of characters in this tale written and drawn by Szymon Kudranski. Until now, it hasn’t been an issue. But revealing the killer and his motives doesn’t pack nearly the punch that it should because we have no idea who this person is. Yes, Kudranski spends much of this issue filling readers in on his motives. But it comes off as an exercise in tardy exposition. In other words, it’s too little, too late.
That’s a monumental shame given the quality of the limited series to date. The first three issues — which told the story of an FBI agent sent to solve the murder of a young woman on an island between the US and the former Soviet Union — were among the best of the year. This ending, though, falls flat. It would have been better for Kudranski to reveal the baddie in the third issue, or at least introduce him earlier in the story. To get all the details just as the story concludes feels little more than ticking a checkbox of things to do.
Still, even questionable writing choices don’t diminish Kudranski’s marvelous and cinematic artistic abilities. They have been on display as a master class in visual storytelling through this run, and he doesn’t disappoint in the finale. As the killer discusses a nuclear winter, Kudranski shows his hand clutching a snowball. We can feel the tension as he’s telling the story just from a splash page focusing on a single hand.
Pacing a story and ending it in a satisfying way are difficult for the best professionals. So it’s worth cutting Kudranski some slack, particularly when the first three-quarters of the story were so strong.
No Man’s Land #4 will be available in comic book stores and on digital platforms this Wednesday from Image Comics.
Summary
All great stories must come to an end. And this has been a very strong one – until now. After three issues of peeling this onion-like mystery, we finally learn who the killer is – except that it’s someone we’ve never met. So the story wraps up with too much exposition – too late.
