Indebted superheroes keep turning up dead before the Paybacks can collect. What’s worse, Night Knight suspects there’s a traitor in their midst. In perilous circumstances like these, our heroes do the only sensible thing . . . they split up! Hey, these assets ain’t gonna repossess themselves!

The Paybacks is a superhero story for the generation of people inundated by  debt. And although the size of debt that the heroes facing repossession will make your student debt look like a mole hill next to a mountain. When the men and women that owe such sums are powerful heroes and so the repo team that gets sent to collect means business. This is a fantastic concept that serves as the backdrop to a legitimately funny series.

Last issue proved that the Paybacks is more than just a one hit wonder, and the series still shows no sign of slowing down.

As brilliant as the idea of superhero debt is, if the story that is set against it falls flat then you’re left with a poorly executed great idea. Thankfully the writing team of Donny Cates and Eliot Rahal continue to effortlessly provide a genuinely entertaining and at times darkly funny superhero comic. Make no mistake that The Paybacks aren’t a group brought together to fight for a common good while simultaneously becoming like an extended family, no, instead The Paybacks are a team that have been forced to work together to pay off their debt. Whether they like each other is entirely incidental, and that’s something that  Donny Cates and Eliot Rahal take care to remind us of.

This issue continues the same sense of madhouse fun and chaotic mayhem from the debut issue of The Paybacks, and it is as enjoyable here as it was in the last two issues. The comics’ art work by artist Geoff Shaw and colourist Lauren Affe is yet again, solid. One of the highlights for me this issue was during a flashback sequence the colouring had echoes of the dot-colouring that is so evocative of older comics four colour printing methods. It’s a nice touch, and one that I thought was clever.  The Paybacks #3 continues the precedent set last issue of delivering a well written, extremely enjoyable comic book that is still one of the most effortlessly funny comics on my pull list.

This is a series that you don’t want to miss out on; The Paybacks is a blast of fresh air in a genre that frequently takes itself too seriously. Whether you ask your Local Comic Shop to hold a copy of this comic for you the next time you visit, or add it to your pull list on ComiXology, this is a series that you should be paying attention to.

Story: Donny Cates and Eliot Rahal Art: Geoff Shaw Colours: Lauren Affe 
Story: 9 Art: 9 Overall: 9 Recommendation: Buy

Dark Horse provided Graphic Policy a FREE copy for review.