Frankie’s getting a lot of attention, and vicious little punks who call themselves Action have decided to teach her a lesson… by targeting her elderly mum! Your Major Spoilers review of Minor Threats: The Fastest Way Down #3 from Dark Horse Comics awaits!

MINOR THREATS: THE FASTEST WAY DOWN #3

Writer: Patton Oswalt/Jordan Blum
Artist: Scott Hepburn
Colorist: Ian Herring
Letterer: Nate Piekos of BLAMBOT
Editor: Daniel Chabon
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: June 5, 2024

Previously in Minor Threats: The Fastest Way Down: Loretta Follis has been a mother, a grandmother, and an infamous super crook named Toy Queen… but tonight she’s become a target. When a group of ruthless teen heroes come to her apartment complex to capture her as bait for her daughter Frankie, Loretta decides to pick up her Jack-in-the-Box gun for one last fight. It’s octogenarian supervillain vs tween sidekick psychopaths in a brutal winner-takes-all.

IT’S LONELY AT THE TOP

Having risen to the top of Redport’s underworld, Frankie Follis is uncomfortably dealing with the city’s hoi polloi, including attending a benefit gala named for the kid sidekick of the hero she is secretly responsible for killing. At the same time as she deals with new threats, the old ones are still stalking her heels, as the husband of her deceased ally, Snake Stalker, wants her dead for what happened to his man. Thanks to an anonymous tip, six psychopathic sidekicks have arrived at the doorstep of her mother, the villain once known as The Toy Queen. Of course, they didn’t count on a couple of realities of life in Twilight City: Ex-masks are a gossipy bunch. And when they find a rent-controlled building willing to rent to former costumes, word gets around, so Bite Boy and his friends end up facing not ONE octogenarian super, but a literal army of them. By the time Frankie’s girlfriend Scalpel arrives to save the day, everything should be fine for Mama Follis.

But “fine” isn’t really a thing in Redport.

IT’S ALSO LONELY AT THE BOTTOM

The most horrifying part of this comic isn’t the blood, the elder abuse, or even the brutal death of the only member of Action with any kind of humanity left. It’s the narration of Toy Queen that opens the issue, explaining how she resented her daughter from the moment she found out that she was pregnant. Worse still, she brought Frankie into her criminal life not to teach her, but to drag her down to Toy Queen’s own level, which was the only way she could teach herself to love the child. It’s utterly chilling stuff, and it gets worse from there, but what may end up being her final act is an attempt to save her daughter. The art captures the subtleties of expression and emotion in that complex interaction, the rage, the fear, the anger, the jealousy, leaving us at a very dark point, even for Minor Threats. This issue’s conclusion makes for a really strong cliffhanger, carrying down the generational trauma once more, and leaving me afraid for everyone involved.

BOTTOM LINE: TENSE, DESPERATE, AND DARKLY FUNNY

The first miniseries was a study of characters with nothing to lose, but Minor Threats: The Fastest Way Down #3 ups the dramatic ante, giving us quasi-heroic villains, openly murderous heroes, a fascinating dilemma for Playtime, and a lovely, gritty art style that brings it all beautifully to life, earning 4 out of 5 stars overall. I expect the worst, but it’d be nice to at least see Frankie and Camila’s relationship survive.

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