Cutter #4 Review

Will Jeremy unravel this mystery? Read on to find out.

The official description from Top Cow:

CUTTER: Issues 1-4, weekly throughout October! What if that kid you and your friends picked on in your youth came back with a vengeance…to kill you and your friends? That dark guilt-ridden fear is at the core of CUTTER, a cautionary tale about the sins of your past coming back to haunt you. Jeremy lives a quiet life with his wife in a rural town. Successful and stable, Jeremy is the guy next door. But he and his high school friends share a dark secret. And when that secret literally comes back to haunt them, Jeremy must confront his past and his own sanity as he comes face to face with a vicious serial killer…”The Cutter.” From television writer SEAMUS KEVIN FAHEY (Battlestar Galactica, The Following) and comic writer ROBERT PLACE NAPTON (Son of Merlin) with art by acclaimed horror artist CHRISTIAN DIBARI.

Halloween is only a couple of days away, with Top Cow celebrating this with the release of Cutter #4, the final part in their October series. Having given us some mystery and horror over the course, the series final brings things to a close, with every question and quibble that fans had being answered. Doing this in a very gripping fashion, Cutter proves to have been a brilliant series for the Halloween season.

Seamus Kevin Fahey and Son of Merlin writer Robert Place Napton have build something very intense, and mysterious, with the question surrounding a dead killer having this fanboy puzzled. The way the duo solve this mystery is rather clever, and I have to say I’m happy it’s not the underwhelming theory I had. The actual ending to the story however was a little underwhelming, as though we got a suspenseful meeting between Jeremy and the killer, the actual climax to this was rather disappointing. The symbolic final sequence on the other hand was brilliant, reflecting the message of this tale perfectly.

Christian DiBari continues to produce some amazing artwork, but this doesn’t change the fact that it doesn’t suit the black and white format. The lack of colour causes the finish of DiBari’s art to feel rather flat, with it also lacking much needed tone. Despite this the pencils and inks allow for a very gripping set of visuals, with the layouts giving a suspenseful flow to this climax. DiBari also manages to capture the character tone perfectly, with the killer showing her true emotions.

Cutter may have had it’s imperfections, but overall it has been a brilliant mystery, being perfect reading material for Halloween. This conclusion only goes to reinforce this statement, as despite the ending itself being a little disappointing, the issue as a whole was amazing. Highly recommended.