“Pearl” #6

In this issue we learn about the Ghost Yakuza Boss of San Francisco, spooky.

Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Michael Gaydos
Lettered by Joshua Reed

From the Eisner and Peabody-award winning creators of Jessica Jones comes another blistering chapter in the Yakuza epic IGN called a “four-star gorgeous crime comic,” with 10/10 ratings from AiPT, Comicosity, Comicsverse and Comics Watch!

Tattoo artist Pearl Tanaka has finally discovered her past and legacy and how they have informed all her choices up to this moment. Now she must choose her path: master tattoo artist—or master assassin?

Although PEARL was originally solicited as a six-issue miniseries, based on your support, PEARL will now be an ongoing series! PEARL will skip a month in February so Michael Gaydos can catch his breath, but we’ll be back with issue #7 in March!

“Pearl” #6 gets off to a rough start with the very first panel of the very page. The first panel is an exterior shot of a sedan. Gaydos uses goes for a two tone effect in this opening scene, contrasting a light sepia with various shades of grey. The problem comes from the lettering used to tell the reader that this scene takes place years ago, the tone used for the lettering is technically white but when it is set against the sepia the luminosity of the backing tone is too great and eats into the lettering. I checked that image on my computer, iPad, and a Fire tablet, all of them had the same blown out coloring. The lettering looks like an annoying watermark that just obscures everything and defeats its purpose. Thankfully it is only one panel.

Per usual the issue opens with a five or so page prologue scene, again revisiting a younger Pearl. This time we see Pearl experience a first and Chekhov’s gun goes off, because Dad was right. The awkward lettering is a shame because overall this scene is excellent. Each page is a set of five horiztonal panels, putting the reader in the back seat as Pearl and her date work through all the reasons why going to a strip club isn’t a good idea. There’s some smart slight modifications to repeated imagery by Gaydos as the scene is told through these little micro movements and those off panel. With the center console between them, it makes a for a useful gap for Joshua Reed’s lettering. Who dose an excellent job of making a segment read like the whispering back talk you do to yourself as she works through how Dad will feel about the situation.

The climax of that opening scene is worth considering with how anticlimactic the scene is when we return to the present. In the last episode the Endo Twins, shotguns in toe, showed up to Mr. Miike’s house looking for Pearl and Rick. This sequence here has me wondering what sort of modifications were made after the decision to do more issues of “Pearl.” Theoretically you have all the makings for a gangland shootout. Instead, the situation is defused in a surprisingly chill manner. Gaydose and Bendis don’t play the scene for tension either, there are some aspects that could be read as tense due to the emphasis on close ups and how crowded the panel is even in that tight of space. The faces themselves are not tense, as Bendis works in some solid zingers and asides that do a nice job characterizing this supporting cast.

As Pearl an Rick leave, there is an aside that is another moment of the double fetishism that runs through this book that I think works to a degree. Mr. Miike and Kai both comment in yet another moment that calls for a comparison with her Mother. on how like her mother Pearl was in the moment as she defused the situation. Other times the locus of fetishism involves the issue, both in the story world and outside it through the recap page written by Bendis, emphasis on the atypical nature of Pearl’s skin. How that skin marks her as unique and makes her coveted by people like Miike as an ornament in his Yakuza trophy chest. These reductive characterizations of Pearl help to illustrate what “Pearl” will be in the long term: Who is Pearl Tanaka really. That driving question helps to explain the lack of violent climax in Mr. Miike’s house, the answer to that question wouldn’t be found there but it shows Pearl where to look for it.

That long term question leads to a reunion with dear old Yakuza solider Dad, where she begins to learn about what her mother really did and setup the series next arc. These thematic revelations provide a surprising amount of clarity for the series due to the series elliptic structure and graphic art aesthetic. “Pearl” #6 acts as a good finale by pulling threads that have been dangling together and giving the narrative thematic coherence.

“Pearl” has done a good job building up Pearl Tanaka. There is one character that still isn’t quite working for me, Rick Araki. Bendis and Gaydos have done a good job of explaining what they see in one another, Rick understands Pearl’s full body tattoo. Rick himself, however, still lacks personality. He is currently fulfilling the stock role of the good looking (likely) blonde love interest in your typical action-adventure narrative – see every female “lead” in a Batman movie. Gender swapping the roles has a certain novelty too it, but by issue 6 it highlights a storytelling choice without offering a solution to the typical lax implementation. His lack of definition, and narrative equivalent, crystalize in the final pages of issue #6 as he waits for Pearl outside the prison lying atop the hood of his sedan. Gaydos dose a mostly fantastic job of using body language to convey the characters care free attitude in this set of pages. There is one panel, tight medium view of Rick as he asserts his agency in the matter, that feels weirdly off compared to everything else Gaydos has done. It’s unclear if Gaydos stuck too close to a reference photo or what, but Rick’s expression as he proclaims “I am in my life,” reads a stiff, unnatural, and memefoder. With another six issues of “Pearl” on the way, hopefully Rick Araki can find more depth beyond the purely supportive-chill voice he has had thus far.

After “Pearl” #1 I was curious to see what “Pearl” #6 would turn out to be. The series was quickly upgraded from a mini to something more ongoing. With how comics are produced, what potential modifications could be seen as a sequel was being developed. In the letters column, Bendis says he and Gaydos are in for another six issues. It may not be the ending that was originally proposed, or the one readers expected, but “Pearl” #6 does a good job closing it out and setting the series up for a more sustainable narrative going forward.

Final Verdict: 7.5 – A couple of poor awkward panels don’t stop “Pearl” from being a good finale and bridge to the next arc as Pearl goes searching for more of herself.