Advance Review — The Killer Finally Takes Center Stage In ‘Dead By Daylight: The Hillbilly’ #3
by Tom Smithyman
Better late than never.
After being introduced in issue #1 and barely making a cameo in issue #2, the supposed main character in Death by Daylight: The Hillbilly takes the spotlight in this third chapter. And given that the limited series is over next month, it’s not a moment too soon.
In the last half of this issue, we learn more of the deformed Hillbilly’s origin and how he escaped after being chained up on his parent’s farm. As you might guess, it’s a pretty bloody tale. We had previously seen him sledgehammer a cow and other animals to death. This time he tears the head off a steer before setting his sights on human prey. Players of the video game will know that this rarely ends well for the humans.
Still, writer Derek Fridolfs centers the story around Officer Hollis, a good cop on a corrupt small-town police force. Hollis already met Hillbilly in person — and this issue seems to set up a showdown between the two in the finale. Otherwise, Fridolfs has wasted our time by focusing on a good-cop story.
Perhaps the most frustrating part of the story, though, is that by not giving us enough focus on the Hillbilly, we lose context. Yes, he’s brought up in terrible conditions and mommy and daddy don’t love him enough, but when the killer has to decide whether to break his chains or remain at the farm, his decision seems to come from nowhere.
Artist Dean Kotz‘s linework continues to be muddy, which feels appropriate for both the bad cops as well as the gore that pervades the comic. Still, it would be nice to see some neater inks from Kotz.
It’s great to finally have the story center around the titular character, but at this point, is it too late? We’ll learn for sure in the final issue.
Dead by Daylight: The Hillbilly #3 — written by Derek Fridolfs, illustrated by Dean Kotz, colored by Allison Hu, and lettered by AndWorld Design — will be available in comic book stories and on digital platforms on June 10 from Titan Comics.
Overview
This limited series has been surprising in that it hasn’t focused much on the villain. That changes with this issue — finally — but the damage to the story may unfixable at this point.
