The dragon $&#% has hit the fan. It’s all but certain that the dragon is going to destroy Green Village, and the people who couldn’t or wouldn’t leave the neighborhood are going to die. Sonny Campisi has one last desperate chance to save his home, but he’s going to need the help from the most unlikely source.
Having finally caught up with this series just this weekend, it is finally time to read the latest issue, Campisi: The Dragon Incident #4 before it hits the racks so you will know whether it’s worth picking up the series now that the first arc is completed (in fairness, there may not be another arc, I’m just making a guess based on the subtitle and mixing that with a little hope). Combining elements of classic Mafia tales with a less than subtle dose of fantasy, Campisi: The Dragon Incident is an engaging story driven by its characters and the relationships they have with each other.
Writer James Patrick writes Sonny Campisi as the mobster with a heart; the man who’s trying to protect his neighborhood from both internal and external threats, who knows and is at least liked by everyone. Campisi is an endearing protagonist, though not without his faults, who has to try and convince a dragon not to burn his home town down. The final issue of The Dragon Incident wraps up the story in a way that feels right given what Patrick and artist/colourist Marco Locati have delivered thus far in the story. I’m being vague in case you haven’t read the series, but one of the most striking images is Campisi himself facing off against a dragon the size of a house with nothing but a baseball bat – it was that that sold me on the series, and Patrick, Locati and letter Rachel Deering delivered splendidly on the promise of that image for the following four issues.
The Campisi: The Dragon Incident #4 finds Campisi still trying to stop the dragon from exacting a thousand years of vengeance, and perhaps my favourite part about the entire book is that he never tries to resort to violence (because he’s realistic in his chances), and he never really treats the dragon as less than a sentient being; it’s a thing that can be reasoned with, and because Campisi understands the dragon’s mission, you begin to feel for what the dragon is going through because of the empathy the title character has for his foil.
Campisi: The Dragon Incident is another book that upholds Aftershock’s reputation as a quality comics publisher; if you see a comic that half interests you with the Aftershock logo, you can have confidence that at the very least it’ll be a good book that’s worth reading. Whether it’s up your alley is something else, but you’re not likely to find an Aftershock comic you don’t like because its creative team were having an off day.
Writer: James Patrick Artist & Colorist: Marco Locati Letterer: Rachel Deering
Story: 9 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.8 Recommendation: Buy
Aftershock provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: comiXology – Kindle – TFAW
