Brief Mentions: Damned: Prodigal Sons #3 (of 3)

Damned: Prodigal Sons #3 (of 3)
Written by: Cullen Bunn
Art by: Brian Hurtt

Yeah ... it was late. It was probably supposed to be out back in June or so. But when it comes to comics running late it certainly isn't the worst offender of the bunch. And in the grand scheme of things I would rather have a wrap-up to a story as interesting, complex, and ultimately satisfying as this one was late, than an unsatisfying, simple, and boring on time.

Cullen has all the markers of an up and coming writer, give him time and point people toward his books and there is no reason that he shouldn't become as popular and as recognized as someone like Steve Niles. Honestly Cullen writes with the passion and excitement of a new writer but the skill and finely honed craft of a veteran. He manages to leave you with just the right amount of answers to feel good about what you've read but leaves you with just enough new questions and unanswered questions that you can't wait to come back for more.

Brian Hurtt also has unquestionable talent. His cartooning is amazing and his story telling skills are impeccable. His characters are incredibly expressive and emote better and more accurately than most other artists working in the industry. His work has matured ever since he first started working in the comics industry and with each and every project you can see him become more talented and more open to experiment. I have loved his work ever since I first saw it in the incredibly underrated and unfortunately all to brief series from DC's shortly lived Focus imprint, Hard Time. If you like his work I highly recommend you go and check out the work he has done with Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir, especially Three Strikes and Skinwalker.

If you have never read Damned then I highly, highly, highly recommend that you go check out the tradepaperback for the first mini-series "Three Days Dead" and witness one of the coolest independent releases of 2006 (through 2007). Follow the (mis)adventures of Eddie as he deals with the criminal underworld (the criminal underworld where he lives is pretty well populated with demons ... 2 of the three mobs are all demons as a matter of fact), tries to live his cursed life (really, one of the demon families cursed him), and faces death at every turn (again, really ... he seems to be in fatal situations all the time). (Un)Fortunately when Eddie is killed he doesn't stay dead. If anyone touches his corpse he comes back to life, just with a new set of scars. Unfortunately whoever touched Eddie's corpse dies the same way Eddie had. Follow along as he tries to understand the nature of where he goes when he dies as well as tries to make what goes on in his life make sense.