Advance Review: ‘Exquisite Corpses’ #10 Finally Reaches A Manageable Character Count

The good news is that Exquisite Corpses is finally down to four killers. The bad news is that the number of secondary characters is still too high to keep track of everyone.

This series started out strongly, with a triple-sized issue aimed at introducing readers to the dozen killers unleased on a Maine town on Halloween. But over the course of the next several issues, it has become nearly impossible to keep track of who’s who, even though one of the murderers gets bumped off in almost every issue.

A lot of that has to do with those secondary characters — a single mother trying to protect her son, the town junkie, a paramedic who may end up as the hero we never expected — as well as the nature of a publication that stretches its monthly installments out over more than a year. (It doesn’t help that the elite who are pulling the strings are shadowy unnamed characters.)

At least now, though, the story enters its final act and the dramatis personae is more manageable. Though it’s still hard to know who to root for. Sure, the residents of Oak Valley are largely innocent in all of this, but it’s the killers, including several who dress up as animals, that are much more interesting.

Credit series creators James Tynion IV and Michael Walsh with creating an interesting, if too full, cast of characters. As has been the case throughout Corpses’ 13-part so-called “first season,” the creators are joined by guest artists. Tynion gets help in writing duties from series colorist Jordie Bellaire while Walsh and Marianna Ignazzi handle the illustrations.

The result is a more straightforward issue than most, largely because of the number of characters. But the focus has shifted from the killers to the townspeople who are fighting back, each in their own ways. It probably shouldn’t be that surprising, and yet it is.

Ignazzi and Walsh give us a couple of death scenes to feast on, which aren’t as gory as they could be given the subject matter. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing depends on your taste (in one case, quite literally).

With the number of characters culled from the start of the series, Exquisite Corpses may return to being the enjoyable read it was when it began last year.

Exquisite Corpses #10 will be available in comic book stores and on digital platforms Wednesday from Image Comics.