Comic Review: Dry County #5

Dry County #5

Image Comics

Writer/Artist: Rich Tommaso

Dry County uses the sub-heading “The EVERYMAN crime series”. Through the last five issues, it has really lived up to that name. It’s not without its stumbles, but Dry County #5 is an enjoyable end to the series.

To recap the story, Lou Rossi is a young newspaper cartoonist in 1980s Miami. He meets a girl, Janet, and falls head over heels for her. She gets kidnapped, and Lou decides to find her and her captor by himself, without police involvement. Lou tracks down and follows Earl, one of Janet’s ex-boyfriends. Eventually, Lou tracks down a group of four blonde women, associates of Earl, to a house. With his friend Rob, Lou breaks into the house of blondes.

Following a flashback and the final act, I realized that everything that occurred in this issue was anticlimactic. The ending was realistic and it was probably for the better.

Tommaso, pulling double duty as writer and artist, gives a very colorful world. For the crime/noir genre feeling this book has, everything is bright and colorful. The characters are drawn well, and the details that are there are nice. The characters’ faces are expressive but can range from distinguishable eyes and a mouth to two black dots and a line. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just a minor gripe I have. Overall, the art adds to the charm of the book as a whole.

My biggest complaint with this final issue is that it feels so much shorter than it actually is. Half of the issue is a flashback, and then Janet’s letter explains it again. The rest of the issue ties up every loose thread from the previous four issues in four or five pages. I think the story would’ve worked better with the letter explaining things rather than the flashback.

Complaints aside, I still really enjoyed this issue. I enjoyed the series as a whole. It’s a very noir feeling story, but it’s not really noir. It’s noir-lite. The characters are relatable, and the art is charming. If you’ve been a fan of the series, Dry County #5 is an enjoyable, unexpected ending to the series.