Fatale #22 Review

The end of the series inches closer, but does the latest issue go off on an unnecessary tangent? Read on to find out.

The official description from Image:

The life story of the man-monster called The Bishop.

As always, every issue of FATALE includes extras and articles every month!

I’m going to be completely honest, this has been one of my favorite titles to cover for UTF. Right from the beginning the creative team has presented its audience with an uncompromising tale that made use of the femme fatale in ways that were compelling and even refreshing. From the main arc to the stand alone issues there’s been a lot of interesting features at play. And as we take a brief break from Jo and instead focus in on her chief antagonist, some details and answers bubble to the surface.

Ed Brubaker pens the outing and he gives us the perspective of The Bishop. It’s a dark one to be sure that highlights something that used to be man but has since turned much more into a monster of sorts. Still his motivations are interesting, and like any zealot with a religious calling it’s always fascinating to see their rationalization as they participate in their quest. We get some justification, but nothing that goes beyond what fans more than likely expect. And as the author embraces horrifying sequences I found myself missing our heroine in the process.

The art by Sean Phillips is once again a tapestry that embraces thick lines and dark space. He makes use of his pencil strokes by crafting a world with enough detail to make the odd occurrences both believable and even on some level digestible. There are certainly disturbing images at play, but I’ll admit that it was hard not to study what I was seeing as we’re given renditions with just enough color by Elizabeth Breitweiser to make them stick out even without the addition of text.

Fatale #22 continues to be what the franchise is: unique. And as this latest entry wraps up the team delivers something that earns a recommendation from me.