Father Landry’s New Flock Has The Bowman Boys Against The Ropes In Redneck #9

The Bowmans are drowning in the flood of fresh blood. With the cops hot on their tail, can they survive the rising tide? 

Just when you think things can’t get worse for the Bowman clan, another chapter of Redneck rolls around, and Donny Cates flips any expectations that you might have had inside out. On my count, we’ve already had two false protagonists and a decoy antagonist. Killing Slap in the first chapter, then offing Granpa and JV goes to show that Cates isn’t messing around. Every character is expendable if it moves the story along.

Chapter 8 closed with the Bowmans facing apparently insurmountable odds, fighting off Landry’s horde. Didn’t look too promising, and in the opening sequence of chapter 9, we see the Bowmans inevitably succumb to Landry’s brood. The murdering priest is new to this vampire business, but he knows enough to subdue and control the Bowman boys, thanks in large part to Bartlett’s optimistically misguided mentorship.

Lisandro Estherren continues to kill on art duties. I’ve written up almost every chapter of this series for one website or another, and I don’t know how many ways I can say that this dude’s style is amazingly suited to this story. Throw in Dee Cunniffe’s haunting color and shading, and Redneck delivers a viscerally powerful aesthetic that doesn’t resemble anything else on the spinner rack.
Way back in Chapter One, I remember thinking there’s no way Redneck can maintain this momentum. Great first issue, but this thing will slow way down. I couldn’t have been more mistaken. Every chapter has been consistently brutal and shocking, with insane reveals and twists, without sacrificing good storytelling for cheap pops.

Redneck #9, published by Skybound/Image Comics, released on the 24th of January 2018. Written by Donny Cates, art by Lisandro Estherren, color by Dee Cuniffe, letters by Joe Sabino.