Issue four is an emotional roller coaster that will leave you breathless.
THE GOOD ASIAN #4
Writer: Pornsak Pichetshote
Artist: Alexandre Tefenkgi, Lee Loughridge
Design & Letters: Jeff Powell
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: August 4, 2021
Cover Price: $3.99
Hark suffers a devastating blow as Chinatown's Hui Long killer hits closer to home, leading Hark to begin peeling back the layers of his family's chilling secrets.
Score:
★★★★★ (5/5)
Every month, Pornsak Pichetshote, Alexandre Tefenkgi, and Lee Loughridge present an engrossing, evocative, and exciting pulp crime series with historical subtext that makes 'The Good Asian' one of the year's best stories in any medium. You'd think this was adapted from a crime novel, but it's an important and thrilling moment for comic books because this series exists and it is sublime.
Detective Edison Hark's investigation into his father figure's lover's disappearance has uncovered many things including a seedy underworld, corruption, police brutality, a killer on the loose, and relationships that he left far behind. It's made for an in-depth look at a piece of California history that is shameful and abhorrent that echoes to this day. It's also a riveting noir drama with all the staples of great crime fiction - a hardened detective, a femme fatale, a complex mystery, and wall-to-wall dubious characters.
Issue four finds Frankie aiding Hark in finding Terence Cheng to ask him about the possibility of being blackmailed by Ivy or Holly or both. As everything surrounding this part of the investigation is provocative and shocking, it's the tense relationship between Frankie and Hark that's the heart of the issue. The two hash out some things but it explains how their paths have gone in two completely different directions. Pichetshote takes the time to delve into the complicated dynamics of their "brotherhood" revealing more about these characters and how they arrived at this point. It's a powerful raw moment of honesty that explains their divide. As stylish and moody as this noir story is, Pichetshote never allows the style to overwhelm the substance.
Tefenkgi and Loughridge continue to illustrate the series with dynamically composed pages full of color and style. The opening scene for example is sexy, sensual, and hypnotic washed in soft lighting, mixing in flashbacks until Hark is consumed by the shadows again and has to fight for his life. The transition is a descent into darkness that's choreographed beautifully and efficiently. There's just a lot of expertly constructed scenes that land either a visceral or emotional punch. Like the script, the art packs a punch scene after scene.
'The Good Asian' #4 advances the investigation with new reveals and a shocking ending. It's another immersive chapter in this engrossing mystery. As good as any prose bestseller, 'The Good Asian' raises the bar for comic book crime fiction with an enthralling noir period-piece that's thought-provoking and action-packed. The creative team has yet to disappoint.
Comments
Post a Comment