Local Man #12 Review

 

Writers: Tony Fleecs & Tim Seeley

Artists: Tony Fleecs & Tim Seeley

Colorists: Brad Simpson, Allen Passalaqua & Felipe Sobreiro

Cover Artists: Tim Seeley, Tony Fleecs, Jerry Ordway & Brian Reber

Publisher: Image

Price: $3.99

Release Date: July 24, 2024

 

Jack and Rudy found Stacy Wohl’s body in a cabin in the woods. Jack also found Police Chief Brian Bucholz’ wife imprisoned there. Former Vice President Dan Quayle appears when the Frightside leaves Stacy Wohl's corpse to sample what Jack, Rudy, and Inga have to offer. The angry god dislikes how they taste, but it hates the flavor of Dan Quayle’s Secret Service agents. So, who did the Frightside accept as a new host? And how can Jack, Inga, and Rudy combat the latest threat to their town? Let's dig out our 90s Image superhero T-shirts, leap into Local Man #12, and find out!

 

Story

Rudy isn’t wild about seeing her old boss at Auntie Inga’s Bakery again. Inga Johanning-Bucholz gave Rudy the ability to generate industrial-grade bio-lubricant. Then Inga set Rudy on fire. Rudy knows Inga also bears responsibility for Seascape flooding Farmington. She grows increasingly angry as Jack confers with his former girlfriend. Jack is a superhero. He shouldn’t team up with a supervillain!

 

Are villains born or made? In Tony Fleecs & Tim Seeley's series, Inga was a good person. But after Jack abandoned her for a glamorous life with Third Gen, Inga vowed to stay in her small town and be successful no matter what. She may not have become a millionaire, but her dirty deeds didn’t come dirt cheap. She conspired with Jack’s team leader, Camo Crusader, to rob the teen heroes in Fourth Gen of their powers and sell them to the highest bidder. After her former friends and neighbors shunned her, Inga welcomes Jack's reliance on her. Her answers highlight how much all the members of Third Gen, even Neon, used Jack. However, Inga's comments and actions in Local Man #12 suggest she has not shed her manipulative ways.

 

After seeing a flood destroy his adoptive hometown and learning of Inga's affair with Jack, Brian Bucholz broke. The police chief gave up on his job, sent his children to live with his brother, and sought solace in religion. When Father Leo's church failed to fill the aching void, Brian joined the new cult that took up residence in the community center. The Faceless Horde fills Brian with contentment, and he spends his days in the former Fourth Gen training facility. The Price helps Brian and her followers glimpse alternative versions of themselves. She promises that they can visit these parallel worlds. But Jack knows from his time in Third Gen that her promises are lies, and her followers invariably die.

 

Jack experienced much that this world and others had to offer. Yet he’s matured since he returned to Farmington in disgrace. Now, he fights for the town he couldn't wait to leave without desiring to profit from his exploits in any way. But Jack will need more allies than Inga, Rudy, and his dog Pepper to battle The Faceless Horde. Freeing people from The Price's influence will likely reawaken their anger at him. He may no longer be Crossjack. But even if he killed Camo Crusader, Jack is a superhero because he fights to save others from danger and death in Local Man #12.

 

Art

Jack and Inga ignore Rudy's frantic gestures as they confer like confidants. Inga kneels beside a body in a pool of slime, then rises clutching a pointy stick. A cloaked leader preaches to her armored followers. They incinerate the clothes they shed and the photographs they clung to with laser rifles. Tony Fleecs & Tim Seeley's art preserves the homespun quality of their small-town tale. Their backup story portrays a Catholic priest who evokes Reverend Henry Kane more than Father Leo. The priest takes a page out of King Julien's book when he grabs a young boy and drags him up to the mouth of a volcano. But the boy’s fate will differ from Melman’s in Local Man #12.

 

Brad Simpson and Allen Passalaqua color Inga's storage shed in red, pink, purple, and green. As Jack bends to clasp Brian's hand, blue smoke rises amid the darkness surrounding the mesmerized police chief. Does Brian kneel to pick up Jack's gray dog because he shares the otherworldly anger that Pepper swallowed? Blue shards radiate from Brian’s face, portraying alternate worlds against a green background. Felipe Sobreiro colors the smoky air surrounding silhouettes orange and gray. A boy in a green T-shirt with a red, white, and green face tumbles into a smoky yellow pool. He emerges adorned with all those colors and more.

 

Uppercase black letters fill dialogue balloons. Dialogue emboldens for inflection, swells for raised voices, and rarely shrinks. Sound effects help us hear Pepper craving attention, a visor sliding over a familiar face, Jack spitting blood, Rudy slime-skiing, and a volcano erupting in Local Man #12. Thanks to Image Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

When pain and loss engulf Farmington, a cult empowers the locals to refuse the hand fate dealt them and reach for a better one. Local Man #12 takes on the plight of small-town America and questions our belief in our unalienable rights.

 

Rating 9.4/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.