’68 Homefront #3 Review


Just over the half-way mark, ‘68 Homefront #3 has a lot to build on, but chooses to switch things up entirely. Is this a creative masterstroke or a failed gambit?

Tbe  official description from Image:

The winter snows run red and the northern lights shine on the dead as ’68: HOMEFRONT travels to Black Falls, Canada for the opening chapter of the all-new two-issue story arc “DODGERS.” Doug and Bobby Hacker, twin teenagers running from the draft, running from the specter of death in Vietnam, find more than they bargained for as slavering sled dogs, rotting Mounties, and a vicious, desperate mountain man bring the undead contagion to the frozen north.

68_Homefront_3_coverHonestly, this issue has little resonance with the first two-part arc. There are no characters or themes that are shared, aside from the general setting. Heck, even the main location is changed to Canada. That doesn’t mean the story itself is bad, it’ just got nothing connecting it strongly to what came before.

In terms of the script itself, the writing is just more of the same. We have teenage drama, booze and sex. Sure, the change in location makes it more unique, but Mark Kidwell spends more time letting us know what decade it is then he does actually crafting a story. By this point, we get that it’s 1968, but Kidwell writes as if every charachter is a horny teenager, a naked woman or a grizzled cop. Those are your three options and ’68 Homefront #3 doesn’t stray far from this at all.

Visually, this title looks the same, with Kyle Charles’s detailed pencils. It’s a slightly loose style that works with the format. Although it’s full of drab browns and greys, with hints of blue and bloody red, the new location does allow Jay Fotos to add some more creative color. Specifically, we have a lot of snow white, which helps lighten up various pages and panels.

All in all, this feels like a re-start or new arc rather than a third issue. While it’s perfectly readable, this is an issue when you remember that, with just one issue to go, there’s no real sense of plot or objective.

OUR RATING
5
  • + Nice change of scenery
  • - No continuation
  • - Similar themes
  • - Slow storytelling

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