“North Bend” #4

“North Bend” #4 gives us a good look at the drug in action and adds more depth to Brendan’s choices. Warning: spoilers ahead.

Cover by Pablo De Bonis

Written by Ryan Ellsworth
Illustrated by Pablo De Bonis
Colored by Paul Little
Lettered by Thomas Mauer

Leon puts himself in Brendan’s crosshairs after his botched B&E on the safe house puts Darlene’s life in danger. Annie is manipulated back into the MK-Ultra project by the CIA. A valuable new informant could lead to devastating consequences for the Crusaders. And the mind-altering datura voluntas reveals its true power as the experiment on Freddie goes into full swing.

“North Bend” #4 opens with a flash forward to Brendan’s trial. His lawyer’s making an impassioned plea to treat him as a gentle, kind man whose mistakes are exactly that: mistakes. The page turn features Freddie lying in his own vomit, Brendan wrestling with Darlene in her underwear and a perspective shot of Brendan pointing a gun. Nice guy, indeed.

Ellsworth and De Bonis do this initial juxtaposition very well, and rely on the art to sell the moment. Little’s color palette is slightly cooler in the nighttime scene but there’s harmony between the courtroom and the house that helps sell the archness of it all. Ellsworth has a good all-around ear for dialogue and the little bits of exposition don’t detract from the overall read. “North Bend” is a head-centric story, and we start to get some of the paranoia and weirdness we’d expect from something covering MK-Ultra.

“North Bend’ is a Gen-X nightmare in a nutshell. We’ve looped back around to the misery of the Cold War, which is pretty hot at this point, and we’re experimenting with mind control with as much finesse and expertise as we did before (read: none.) Additionally, Ellsworth threads police brutality and racial tension of the ‘80s and now through “North Bend” with a measure of success. We’re operating on the truth that Brendan’s not a nice dude. He’s still a cop, he’s still white and, if the end of this issue is any indication, he’s not too bothered by the encroaching darkness. It’s poignant, true, but we’re not meant to forget that his actions aren’t to be applauded. The story provokes a simultaneous internal sympathy and external judgment, and that’s a hard duality to hold in a story that’s largely grounded in reality.

Still, there’s one moment in this issue that feels gratuitous, and it’s when the trio’s searching for the money and Brendan passes by a woman and her child on the floor of their room. The mother’s likely high. It’s a visual metaphor that’s designed to pull a reaction out of Brendan, but there’s something about the rolled eyes, crumpled posture and nod to an ‘80s media stereotype that feels a bit cheap. De Bonis does a good job toning down some exploitation in Darlene’s scenes, but this single instance feels superfluous to the story. Ellsworth likely intends for this to be a moment of softness and reflection for Brendan that makes his descent into cruelty more poignant, but it’s a throwaway in all senses of the word. De Bonis’s backgrounds establish the dismal mood well enough. Brendan’s humanity comes through elsewhere in the issue. We’d do better to focus on how Brendan’s manipulating two men under the influence of mind-altering substances. A few more panels of Leon, a character with whom we’re supposed to empathize in his extremely exploited state, would hit harder than this instance of an unnamed woman.

De Bonis does a great job of showing when and where Brendan loses control, and the team threads a few memorable hallucinations through this issue to good effect. The shower scene is a bit unmoored, and that’s down to needing a visual indicator that this isn’t entirely real. Ellsworth, De Bonis and Little err on the side of subtlety (which is the side we’d prefer, frankly.) Little’s excellent red background in the final panel is the exact tone pop we need, but adding a subtle color wash to the rest of it would do the trick. The page prior to the shower scene establishes the high character’s point of view with some wavy art, but we still need a little POV reminder to make everything run smoothly.

Little’s color palette is worth digging into, particularly because “North Bend” shines in its slate blues, greys and subtle textures. De Bonis creates effective backgrounds with recognizable locations – houses, suburban streets, etc. – but always leaves a bit of space to breathe. Little fills this with industrial hues but always adds a bit of mottle to the page. It’s so subtle we could miss it, but it adds that dingy flavor we need to feel like there’s chaos around every turn. There’s also a few neat tricks to get at the unreality of the drug itself, like the sudden burst of pink and purple outside the window when Freddie’s trip begins and the previously mentioned burst of red.

Mauer does good lettering work in “North Bend.” There’s an unsteady stroke on the balloons that helps soften the otherwise clean tail curves. De Bonis’s line is peaky and a bit spare, and Mauer picks up on and complements some of the inkier shading. The font appears regular at first blush, but it’s unsteady enough to add flavor without venturing into unreadable territory. It’s also notable that Mauer goes for all caps but the final product doesn’t feel clinical or cold. Dialogue matters in this story, almost as much as the art, and Mauer’s work keeps everything as concise as possible without sacrificing style.

Overall, “North Bend” #4 is a solid entry into a look at a future we can’t possibly escape. Like Brendan’s life, everything comes back around to our greatest moments of weakness and paranoia. “North Bend” has the capacity to surprise us, both in its measured approach to a procedural and the chances it’s willing to take in the midst of so much seriousness.

Final Verdict: 8.5 – “North Bend” #4 takes us on a bit of a trip as Brendan mires himself deeper in the darkness of the project.