Review by Frank Plowright
Mr. Wen has so far proved rather the mystery. What we know about him is that he’s somehow logged onto a dark web site for assassins, and masquerades as one of them in order to save lives. It’s a dangerous business, and, perhaps somewhat inevitably, by the end of Volume One pear-shaped wasn’t the half of it. However, the quality of Rick Remender’s writing over that volume may have led some to expect that the dangerous situation ending it may not have been what it seemed, and so it proves.
Volume Two opens six months later with Mr. Wen in a rural commune learning to shoot. Is his name really Sonny? Well, we learn a lot more about him in the opening chapter here as Remender’s writing continues to impress. Given everything that’s going on, about which we’ll reveal no more, Remender still manages to crank up the danger and the tension, which is some achievement in itself.
Equally impressive is the art of André Lima Araújo, supplying a haunted and regretful lead character going about his everyday business before the violence once again explodes into his world. Araújo’s storytelling is exemplary, a succession of pictures from an imaginary camera. As violent as the previous volume was, this is even more so, an extended terrifying life or death battle displaying cruelty on one side and desperation on the other. It’s intended as horrific, and that’s the way Araújo draws it. It’s exceptionally good, but possibly what’s expected from an artist working on American comics. Where Araújo really excels is with the postcard views and variety of people.
Yet that’s only midway through this volume and even greater horrors await, not least the reality of Mr. Wen’s condition, which you might have forgotten about given everything else that’s happened. And there’s someone you might have entirely forgotten.
A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance is fantastic throughout and it’s capped with a joyful epilogue giving a clear clue as to who Remender has in mind for the chief villain.
The surprising truth is that you shouldn’t bother with this book. Instead the real treat is the entire story combined in the hardback Deluxe Edition.
