Jack’s life was supposed to get simpler when he got fired from Fourth Gen. Leave it to conspiracy chuds to ruin everything. Your Major Spoilers review of Local Man #6 from Image Comics awaits!
LOCAL MAN #6
Writer: Tim Seeley and Tony Fleecs
Artist: Tony Fleecs and Tim Seeley
Colorist: Brad Simpson/Felipe Sobreiro
Letterer: Tim Seeley
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: October 18, 2023
Previously in Local Man: Jack Xaver, Farmington’s very own Local Man, is called in to investigate a mysterious drowning on dry land. The problem is, Jack isn’t legally allowed to be a superhero. Oh, also, he’s sleeping with the police chief’s wife. AND there’s a conspiracy theory gaining traction that Jack murdered America’s most beloved champion, the Camo Crusader.
A CONSPIRACY THEORIST WITH A RIFLE
The end of the first arc of Local Man left Jack Xaver back home in Farmington, Wisconsin, having cleared up the murder of his oldest friend/archenemy, which led to the death of the world’s greatest superhero. This issue opens with Jack and his dog, Pepper, arriving at ex-girlfriend Inga’s restaurant, just in time to get caught canoodling with the very married Inga… by his dad! It’s all quite awkward, but it only gets worse when a bullet smashes a jar, nearly killing all three of them. An army man has occupied the diner, screaming theories about the death of The Camo Crusader (a sort of fundamentalist Captain America) and how the former Crossjack is part of it all. Shockingly, every one of his goofy ideas is 100%, leaving jack puzzled about how he has so many details right. When the man starts to explain, something about The Crusader’s eye ascending to heaven, he ends up getting shot by the local police. That’s not the weirdest part of it all, though. The police chief actually set the officer over to get Jack so that he could investigate a mysterious death, where a woman somehow drowned in the middle of a bone-dry field
A DROWNING ON DRY LAND
My favorite part of the issue is the second feature, an in-depth look at Inga’s life in Farmington while Jack was off punching evil as a superhero. Whereas the first arc featured backup tales that called on the tropes and tools of first generation Image Comics like Youngblood and WildC.A.T.s, this reminds me of the more experimental autobiographical works that came afterward. Not only that, it gives new context to Inga’s maybe-sinister actions in issue #5, as well as making her displeasure with Crossjack more understandable. The creative team switcheroo continues here as well, with co-creators Seeley and Fleecs switching art duties between the modern-day Farmington story and the flashback. It’s remarkable how well this series captures the hopelessness of a Midwestern town at the peak of summer heat, with an array of earth tones bringing it all to depressing life.
BOTTOM LINE: COMPLEX AND ENTERTAINING
With the ongoing plotline getting a little bit of development, one big new mystery introduced, and a little knife-twisting on the writers’ part about Sheriff Johanning placing his trust in the man who is carrying on with his wife, Local Man #6 rolls into its new arc with style, earning 4.5 out of 5 stars overall. If you’ve been on the fence about this book, or you’re just hearing about it now, it’s a great issue to join in.
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LOCAL MAN #6
Jack Xaver is no detective, but neither is anybody else in Farmington, which leads us off onto a whole new day, making for the proverbial "Great Jumping-On Point."
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Writing9
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Art9
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Coloring8
