"Dead of Winter" Part Three
Writer: Jimmy Palmiotti & Joe Quesada
Artists: Lee Moder, Chris Garcia(c)
Publisher: Dynamite
Starting off with an exciting resolution to last issue's cliffhanger, Painkiller Jane carries the reader speedily through the story. The book climaxes with a strong impact and finishes off with a nasty, biting epilogue.
Painkiller Jane is tough to kill. Her will is indomitable, and she possesses a healing ability second only to that of Wolverine. That’s why tackling a plug-ugly out the window and having a taxi cab act as a mattress merely represent minor setbacks in Jane's pursuit of justice.
Jane was on the trail of a sex slavery ring run by well-to-do scum. Worse for Jane, the vermin prove to be well-connected. This facet of their status puts Jane on a hit list and turns her into a fugitive from the law.
This issue deals with Jane removing the annoying obstacles and homing in on the orchestrators of a grand scheme with a long history. Her method of removal is verisimilous and not at all as violent as you think.
Writers Palmiotti and Quesada open with bloodshed but reserve the violence for the impressive conclusion. Palmiotti and Quesada make Jane's threat the impetus for the reader to turn the pages and for the perpetrators of these heinous crimes to squeal like stuck pigs.
The story began in true vigilante fashion with Jane learning of a vile subject from her best friend Maureen and methodically dealing with the lower echelons of the monsters that prey on humanity. The finale to "Dead of Winter" reveals that the whole three-chapter play was in fact an engrossing detective story in the vein of Robert B. Parker or Sara Paretsky.
Jane makes for a very believable and sympathetic detective that's smart and lethal. She has her own code of honor that she adheres to through the entire story, and she's just as philosophical and thoughtful as some of the private eyes "who walks those mean streets."
Lee Moder's artwork simply stuns with plausible action and strong visual character. As bracing as the violence in the story happens to be, Moder's real suitability toward the character of Painkiller Jane can be seen in the way he treats her as a three-dimensional figure.
Jane isn't a one-note, non-emotive character. Moder expresses her subtle gestures when she finds out a friend sold her out for all the right reasons. He displays her beauteous smile when she now healthy and whole rejoins her friends at a diner. He bestows to her a wry smile when she makes a witty comment. He gives her a disapproving look when she sees what poster hangs in a gas station. Moder makes Jane a real person by radiating nuances and moods. This makes her attractive to the reader and gives the reader substance to follow throughout a winningly twisty little tale.
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