Written by Justin Jordan
Illustrated by Tradd MooreLuther tries to rescue Petra, and things end bloody. Meanwhile, Pete and Luther’s Mom are left alone to face something unimaginably worse. Not everyone gets out of this issue alive. The penultimate issue of the hit series.
The penultimate issue of one of the most violent comics I have ever seen and still enjoyed has hit the stands. Does it still bring perverse delight, or has all the splatter finally sickened me? Follow the cut and see.
Let’s talk gore. Some people absolutely hate it, and will shy away from any comic, movie, novel, or video game that has anything more than a spatter of blood. Other people revel in it, finding the ability to stomach torrents of innards a testament to their “maturity.” Thankfully, most people don’t fall into either of these extremes – though the latter is more common than one might hope – and can tolerate varying amounts of blood n’ guts, according to our own personal preference. When it comes to vivid violence, there’s a line that divides the genuinely, but also entertainingly, horrifying, and the kind of material that is just so grotesque it is no longer worth reading; either it is just too unpleasant, has become comical in its over-the-top manner, or – worst of all – only warrants an eye roll.
Justin Jordan and Tradd Moore, affectionately dubbed Team Luther Strode, know where this line is, and have their eye fixed on it. Not that they’re trying to avoid it – not at all, as anyone who has opened any issue of this comic could tell you – but so they can get as close to that line as possible without crossing it. Think of it like the rules for The Price Is Right: The closer you are to that line [the price], the more effective you are going to be at giving your audience, to use the technical term, the heebie-jeebies [winning a fabulous prize]. If you go just the tiniest bit past it, though, it’s too late.
Part of this is because the violence of Luther Strode has been steadily escalating. Aside from the cold open of the first issue, which fulfilled its purpose of giving the reader a jolt and getting them interested – ah, the power of foreshadowing – the book has been following a relatively linear path. People don’t start vomiting guts and exploding into tiny, sticky pieces the moment Luther gets his powers; instead, aside from the appearances of the Librarian, we go from regular schoolboy beatings to more and more uncanny levels of violence, until with this issue we finally catch up with the opening scene of the miniseries. Now, though, we have somewhere further to go; in the first issue, had Jordan and Moore taken that scene to even more gruesome extremes, I probably would have put the book down in disgust – not that the scene in question was “too much,” just in terms of that delicate line. Now, though, they have acclimated their readers for what is probably going to be a thoroughly visceral finale – and I can’t wait. It takes delicacy, but that line I keep mentioning can be moved, and despite what the brutality of The Strange Talent of Luther Strode might lead one to think, these two industry newcomers are not lacking in delicacy.
Jordan’s script is very well-crafted. Every single character sounds unique, without resorting to stereotypes or caricatures (with the goons being a bit of an exception, but come on, they’re goons). Petra avoids both becoming the arm-candy love interest that one tends to expect in a story like this and the ridiculous, supposedly “empowered” women whom many male writers have been guilty of creating in recent years. Petra isn’t one of those female characters who looks and talks tough, but still serves to please the predominantly-male audience that many incorrectly perceive comics to be; Petra is legitimately a well-rounded, tough as nails character. Equally compelling is Mrs. Strode, who has embodies the strength a mother can have when her child is in danger. The succinct, proper dialect of the Librarian absolutely oozes evil, and Pete… well, Pete sounds exactly like one of my slightly annoying but good-natured friends from high school. This of course, leaves our main man Luther. Part of what makes the climax of this issue is what Luther says – or, more importantly, what he doesn’t say. Up until now, he’s sounded like the teenager he is. He sometimes talked a bit before actually saying anything, and peppered in the occasional joke. In this issue, even, he makes his entrance into a terribly serious situation with a joking “Hi, I’m Luther.” When that final straw snaps, though, and Luther becomes more monster than man for just a moment, it’s the simple “Yes, let’s” that delivers the chills that Jordan is looking for.
Continued belowTradd Moore delivers his best work yet with this issue. His faces, as with previous issues, are unmistakable in their varied emotions; the panel where Mrs. Strode glowers at Pete does a particularly great job of communicating that aura of authority that it seems almost any mother can turn on you, whether or not you are her child. His sense of motion is impeccable; every person running, every punch thrown, and every shot fired seem to not want to stay still on the page. Perhaps the best example of Moore’s prowess as a sequential storyteller is the three panel sequence where Luther breaks through the door: The combination of the equal time lapse between panels one and two and panels two and three, the hand breaking through its border, and the decompression of an almost instantaneous moment perfectly replicate what is clearly going through the mind of whom Luther is assaulting: “F$&*.” While some of this is most likely thanks to Jordan’s smart scripting, it’s Moore who instills us with such a strong feeling of dread in only three minutely different panels. Paired with colorist Felipe Sobreiro, who particularly shines in the moment of Luther’s breaking point, Moore has helped make Luther Strode an incredible example of strong sequential art, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you start seeing his name a tad (a Tradd?) more frequently now that he has finished illustrating this book.
If you’re a regular reader of our site, you probably heard the hype about this series before it came out and, hopefully, had the sense to pre-order the first issue. If you didn’t, though, and your local shop is out of issues one through four, I hope you’ll at least go ahead and order the trade. Luther Strode pushes the bar in many ways, and looks more like the work of two industry veterans than the rookie professionals Jordan and Moore are. Now you can say “I knew them before they were popular!”
Final Verdict: 9.4 – Buy it!
