In Punk Mambo #5, Punk Mambo’s final boss battle pits her against an enemy who has stolen phenomenal powers. There’s no way she can win!

In this spellbinding series finale, can Punk Mambo make the ultimate sacrifice to repay her debt?

Find out the final fate of this fan-favorite character.

Cullen Bunn, Adam Gorham and Jose Villarrubia bring home Punk Mambo’s first solo series with a bang. Once again there’s a roughness to the art that fits so well within the story. It suits the title character to a T. Gorham and Villarrubia’s visual storytelling allows Bunn to focus on the internal and external voice of Punk Mambo.

A new god of voodoo was created last issue as a man absorbed spirits, ghosts and even the gods of voodoo themselves. This issue sees Punk Mambo walk casually into his lair to punch him right in the face.

Punk Mambo #5 delivers an oddly satisfying sequence. The comic’s steeped in the magical powers of Mambo and her adversary through some sweeping double-page spreads and vivid pastel coloring. The pace of the story isn’t slow, but nothing feels rushed. The frenetic pace is reminiscent of the music genre that Punk Mambo (very likely) enjoys so much. It’s fast, exciting and exactly as long as it needs to be. The mystical nature of the sequence allows the artistic team to really let loose and play with layouts and colors. It feels like being swept along in a riptide. In a sense you are, as the half dozen or so pages whip by.

Punk Mambo #5 balances the mystical battle with a lovely (sadly) implied fistfight and then a conclusion that ties up some of the character growth that Mambo has gone through this series. There’s the somewhat obligatory lines that open the story for further installments, when in another Punk Mambo series or as a guest in others down the road (Shadowman, maybe?), but that doesn’t take away from how brilliant the series has been from start to finish.

If anything, it gives me hope that we’ll get more of the character sooner than later.

Story: Cullen Bunn Art: Adam Gorham
Colours: Jose Villarrubia Letters: Dave Sharpe
Story: 9.2 Art: 9.2 Overall: 9.2 Recommendation: Buy

Valiant provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review