I might have misspoken about Good As Dead #3.
Not that it wasn’t quite good. It was — after two fairly solid issues, the creative team (writer Maria Lapham, co-writer/artist David Lapham, and colorist Dee Cunniffe) had stepped up in a big way as to push this weird and wild tale of small-town vengeance into overdrive. Nor that it wasn’t also doing rather neat and inventive things in the crime tradition (even if not everything worked as well as other decisions).
No, I was wrong about how busy it all was, and how much we’d reached a new speed of storytelling effectiveness. Because it’s Good As Dead #4 that’s hyper-busy and more robust than ever, and enough of it’s for the better even as some of it ain’t quite as shiny.
By the time we get to this issue, Good As Dead has basically been broken up into several, semi-overlapping tales. There’s Sheriff David Calhoun, who is using his last days on Earth to muck about with Tammy Valade (his life-long rival and matron of Port Linden’s true kingpins). Then there’s Becky, a young girl trying seeking justice for the victims of the bridge collapse (with all the resulting angst you’d expect). And she’s recently been joined by Sam and Aly, the sheriff’s family. From there, we come to Deputy Lenore, who is seemingly the one doing all the police work into investigating dead scientists (i.e., Dr. Yao). And, of course, there’s the sheriff’s sister, Bobby Calhoun, who has her own machinations with the Valade clan (and J.P. specifically).
Whew, amiriite?!
Across Good As Dead #4, we bounce between these stories (and see them increasingly coalesce in some important ways) with a maddening level of speed and intensity. On the one hand, it’s exciting, even if some of that sentiment comes from the fact that we’re being dribbled around like a basketball. But at least there’s heaps more body horror and shootouts in this issue; these feel like being checked into a wall in a good way, as if the sudden, strategic spikes manage to counter any sense of confusion with more adrenaline and attention-grabbing bloodshed. Still, the downside of having this many story parts is that, in issue #4 especially, we’re moving around a lot, and we don’t tend to stick in one “corner” for long enough. There’s some parts of the issue I wanted more time in, but inevitably we moved on to others.
This approach also means that folks need to be even better studied than ever. There’s a real sense that the story’s reaching a fever pitch and that it’s very much done holding hands as things grow, fresh elements got tossed into the pot, and (generally speaking) enough is already there to feel as if we’ve got a pretty stacked story. More titles should totally demand such engagement, but in Good As Dead, it can feel as thrilling as it is a little like extra homework. Still, it does mean that as we’re meant to be experts by now, the book goes beyond just shiny toys to facilitate our continued immersion.
Which is to say, it’s also altered or mitigated key story aspects to accommodate this “new” experience. I’ve felt over the last couple issues that David Calhoun doesn’t exactly exude real star power. Even if he’s the “main dude,” his whole dying shtick just doesn’t sing as brilliantly as it ought to (especially when the other players here feel more fully developed and interesting). But there’s a sense in issue #4 that David’s being handled different somehow — he’s become a bit of a B player, actually, to Lenore taking on a more substantive role, or Becky feeling like more than just a silly teen on some revenge mission.
It’s seemingly this awareness by the creators that, as things unfurl at increasingly breakneck speeds, they must streamline where they can to let the very best parts of this book shine. David Calhoun still plays a vital role (to an extent), but it’s letting that be what it is (one man’s frantic stumble toward the grave) and then having it add to and extend the larger story of this ever-growing mystery. It generally makes this book easier to digest without watering down its complexity and robustness, and we needed that right now given issue #4’s other big moves.
Courtesy of Image Comics.
And those moves included not just a more manic pacing, but something else entirely. Before Good As Dead even debuted, there was talk of “supernatural” elements at play, something that would see the Laphams move beyond their more “traditional” crime dramas. And that very much happened here, and in a few iterations/speeds that have a few different values or meanings. The most obvious speed came with David Calhoun’s hallucinations of aliens and his dead father. (Or, I’ve assumed they’re hallucinations, and that’s how I’ve chosen to connect with this moment.) Like the extra action scenes across this issue, they mostly felt like added texture and visual treats. (The designs here are fantastical but also grounded enough, and it’s a big step forward without feeling wholly out of place). It’s all a primer, if you will, for what’s to come in the rest of the issue.
And those other “fantastical” bits are similarly grounded but also still get at bigger, more abstract ideas and concepts. I won’t spoil those outright, but they offer an overarching end goal and the cohesive skeleton of a proper conspiracy. (And the fact that Becky’s doing some of it and so is Lenore on her own really goes back to what I said about Good As Dead‘s increasingly potent character development/arcs.) And, again, it’s sort of like sci-fi but also quite direct (it involves the aforementioned dead scientists, and some new, slightly less dead scientists), and that makes all the difference. Because as compelling as the aliens were, it’s sort of like David Calhoun dying: It’s a nice gimmick, but there’s more substantive material to be found in other parts of the story.
In short, what makes this issue works is mostly the same as #3 — it’s not exactly about the sprint-like pacing, the wondrous violence, or the weird-o magic. (Even if those really, really help!) No, it’s about this story growing and developing in such a way that we’re fully on board (even if we’re not always up-to-date); that we feel excited but dedicated to the hard work of truly connecting with this story; and that it’s now undeniably clear that this book has more tricks and secrets to deliver on its own dang time.
Maybe it’s not my favorite issue thus far (#3 still shines a touch brighter), but it’s certainly one where I think people are finally going to get the most out of a weird, uneven but ultimately plentiful crime story (that’s so much more than just said genre). We may be busier than ever as fans of Good As Dead, but we’re also living high on the hog of impactful, big-time storytelling.
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