His dog ate a demon, and his ex-girlfriend may or may not be the Big Bad. It’s just another day in the life of Jack Xaver, Local Man. Your Major Spoilers review of Local Man #12 from Image Comics awaits!
LOCAL MAN #12
Writer: Tony Fleecs/Tim Seeley
Artist: Tony Fleecs/Tim Seeley
Colorist: Brad Simpson/Allen Passalaqua/Felipe Sobriera
Letterer: Tim Seeley
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: July 24, 2024
Previously in Local Man: Local Man is reunited with his former archenemy just in time to meet this new one. THEIR new one. Now, Jack and Inga have to rescue the one man that hates them more than they hate each other to confront a villain who will change the future of the Image Universe… by remaking its past!
ROUTING THE FACELESS HORDE
Local Man and Slick 2.0 have finally found the woman behind most of his recent unpleasantness: His own ex-girlfriend, Inga. But rather than react with violence, Jack takes the time to listen to what she has to say, much to the disbelief of Slick (who, to be fair, Inga recently set on fire). Their discussion reveals that The Faceless Horde and their leader, The Price, have captured most of Farmington not through manipulation but through taking away their pain with some sort of dimensional transfer. But without the Mercy Seat, they can’t actually use all the power of their stolen Aphek Engine so that The Price can finally do what she wants to do: Rebuild the original Image Comics universe! There’s also a guest appearance by Shadowhawk, which bodes for interesting things to come. As for our retro backup tale, it’s the origin of Third Gen member, Big Island, which is both pretty funny, unnerving as heck, and also a hint that there may be more going on with the main story than it seems.
A NEW SHARED IMAGE MULTIVERSE?
This issue explicitly references Blood Squad Seven, Image’s other retro-faux-revamp comic, and given The Price’s focus on returning things to what she thinks of as normal, I suspect that the two books may be interacting sooner rather than later. The visual references in the backup story call back not only to the missing characters of Youngblood, but also the loss of the Wildstorm stable, which makes it clear that the villain CAN’T actually do what she wants, but that makes things even crazier. The art in both parts of the story is well-done, as always, but I especially appreciate the subtlety of the coloring of this issue. The alt-universe sequences are a vivid blue, while Shadowhawk’s uniform features vivid reds and silvers, contrasting the grey-and-brown “real world” of Farmington.
BOTTOM LINE: ANOTHER REALLY GOOD ISSUE
Regular listeners to the Major Spoiler Podcast know that I’m all-in on this book, and while Local Man #12 slows things down a bit to focus on the plot to destroy Jack’s hometown (and a surprising strangulation), it’s still a fine issue with some really inspired coloring, earning 3.5 out of 5 stars overall. As someone who wasn’t a hardcore fan of the 1994 Image universe, it’s really strange to find myself a fan of a revamped and rejiggered version some thirty years later.
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LOCAL MAN #12
A mysterious woman adds fuel to the fires of conspiracy, while something even bigger is brewing in the wings. And does this tie in with Blood Squad Seven?
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Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he’d be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that’s not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture! And a nice red uniform.
1 Comment
Possible spoilers in this comment.
Did some digging on the Image Comics wiki and figured out who The Price is. We’ve seen her in a couple of the backups. She’s originally a Youngblood character, so that means there’s a very good chance of a Blood Squad Seven crossover. Just search the wiki for Price to find out who it is.