World's Most Lethal Woman, World's Most Lecherous Loser
Natasha tries to fend off her mysterious foe's deadly attacks and her charges clumsily executed sexual advances...
The Good
Zack mentioned last month that he wasn't a fan of the capes being included in this seemingly grounded, spy thriller and I agree. Fortunately their time in the issue is short and they exist to provide the world's deadliest woman a fight scene to prove just why she is that. Speaking of action sequences, Garcia's art's been a bit uneven but he really shines when penciling Natasha in poetic motion. And luckily this issue has a good bit of our Russian redhead regulating. His art still lacks that flare that Acuna's had during Liu's stellar, and too short, run but in this issue he hits a lot more than he misses.
Swierczynski's wring remains very solid and with only a few hiccups in his dialog which I'll address later. Overall he continues to apply the proper tone to the story and his characters. He even manages to make the clichés he employs forgivable. If we're being honest, this arc IS just one big escort mission, but Nick's comic relief works more often then it doesn't. This issue being the finale of the Kiss or Kill, it does a pretty good job of ending things and setting up the things to come.
The Bad
Okay, gotta get this out of the way. I just can't jig with Nick's sudden attraction to Natasha which began in issue 7. I get that she's supposed to be supremely seductive. I mean just by breathing she emits sex waves no man can resist. But is she so hot that you'll want to bed her despite trying to shoot her because you think she killed your father? Really, man..really?
Nick went from being an easy to relate to, respectable everyman in over his head to, well, a lame, inappropriate, perv. And he does it all in the span of one issue.
My major issue with this finale is that it feels a bit short. Sort of like Swierczynski lost track of the pacing and realize he had to wrap things up. The last couple of pages feel rushed so that a conclusion could be given to the story. I really feel like this arc needed 2 more issues to work towards a worthy conclusion. I think with those two issues he really could've done an action packed conclusion this story deserved.
The Verdict-3.5
Minor issues aside, I've gotta say I very much enjoyed this arc. Marjorie Liu/Acuna's dynamic made their arc a very, very tough act to follow. However, Swierczynski gave it the ol' college try and more often then not keeps things rollin' in the right direction. If you like spy fiction with a good balance of thinking and action then this is definitely worth a look.