Review by Ian Keogh

Matt Fraction first appeared on the radar with this quirky crime drama from 2003, in retrospect very much a telling statement about his future as it references what thrilled the younger Fraction, in this case 1970s heist films. However, unlike Fraction’s later work, it never amounts to anything more than an astute homage.

Cole Caudle is a career bank robber, now heading toward retirement and wanting the last score that’ll let him live out his life without considering where the next pina colada is coming from. He’s put together a younger gang and worked out his plan to the last detail of blowing up the truck and flying away in a small plane, but the form of such stories demands the fatal error. In this case it takes two forms. The money stolen wasn’t yet banked, and it belongs to a major criminal enterprise who want it back, and while the giant Billy is a force to be reckoned with, he’s also an unpredictable loose cannon.

At the time coming off superhero work, Kieron Dwyer really seems to relish drawing something different, and provides a masterclass in breaking down a crime story, from when to use silent panels to the polished character designs. Caudle looks his age, and there’s a tired air to him, yet Dwyer also conveys the freedom of riding a horse and really delivers the cinematic touches. This looks best on the sepia pages of the 2020 reissue.

Fraction comes up with some novel maguffins, and the tension throughout is whether Caudle will make it out alive. Given the influences, the odds work out at fifty/fifty in what’s a derivative, but enjoyable thriller.

Times change, and language that in 2003 would have been regarded as period insults will now be experienced by some as offensive and having no place in print. If that’s your opinion Last of the Independents isn’t for you.