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

Punk Mambo faces off against a sinister sorcerer!

What does Azaire want with the loa he’s collected in Punk Mambo #4?

Mambo reaches deep into her bag of tricks to level the playing field. Sex magic may or may not be involved. But voodoo dolls definitely are.

Cullen Bunn, Adam Gorham and Jose Villarrubia (writer, art and colours respectively) once again come together to deliver a comic that is far more than the sum of its parts. There’s a roughness to the art at points that suits the character and the part of the story you’ll notice it incredibly well; Gorham and Villarrubia’s visual story telling allows Bunn to focus on the internal and external voice of Punk Mambo.

Last issue saw Punk Mambo confront the series villain before being viciously beaten as her magical abilities were temporarily drained. Although she gave as good as she got, numbers got the best of her – at least until her magic returned.

This issue sees her recovering from that beating, and examining the effects it had on her both physically and mentally. It’s during this introspective sequence we learn more about the character we (well, at least I) knew before. Glimmers of her past are revealed across a page of art and a few pages of narration that book ends said visual flashbacks. What I enjoyed most about the way the flashback was told is that it doesn’t interrupt the flow of the story (it’s actually pretty integral to the following scene), though it’s marred a little by the insinuation of a far more tragic past for Mambo.

Punk Mambo #4 reveals the motivation for the series villain, which is an oddly pedestrian cliche when you really boil it down, but Bunn frames it well enough that I really didn’t care. I was, and remain, far more interested in how the title character is responding to said villain than the revelation of the villain’s endgame.

The issue pulls the threads of the series together in a way that sets up a what should be a satisfying conclusion to the story.

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

Punk Mambo wants revenge. Best of luck to anyone standing in her way.

For some reason, I’m sure it’s a coincidence, I’ve been listening to Bad Religion, Black Flag and other punk bands. The raw yet refined nature of their anger mixed with strangely infectious tunes springs to mind as I read this comic. I love bands that you really can’t hum along to, so my definition of an infectious tune will differ. It’s the raw and refined anger of punk music that Cullen Bunn captures so well within these pages.

Punk Mambo’s willingness and comfort doing her own thing when facing down a powerful enemy is a great example of her mentality. Just because people think you should do a thing, doesn’t mean you should. Especially if you don’t give a shit what they think.

This issue shows us the mental toughness of the character as she faces a brutal trial by combat after wandering through a muted effervescent factory floor filled with mystics. It’s a scene the showcases Adam Gorham‘s grasp of visual presentation. His use of two double page spreads one after the other serve as the visual focal point of the comic. That’s bookended by some interesting use of perspective with the panel and grid layouts. That highlights the descent into the supernatural verses. The more structured pages earlier in the comic where the story focuses on more real-world concerns.

Beyond Bunn’s grasp of the character’s nature, and his ability to weaves that into a compelling tale about the structure of voodoo and the mystic arts, we’re treated to an exciting visual masterpiece from Adam Gorham and colorist Jose Villarrubia. It’s the perfect representation of the story in your hands. It’s a gritty, yet odd enticing tale that makes for a brilliant comic book.

Punk Mambo #3 is the middle part of a series that, right at the halfway point has fallen into my Must Read pile with a screaming guitar and some pounding drums. I don’t know what I expected from a Valiant series focused on the publisher’s unconventional Voodoo practitioner. It sure as hell wasn’t a tale that pulled me in so completely.

I’m not normally a fan of magic based stories unless there’s a healthy dose of sword with my sorcery, but there’s something about this character, and this comic, that just has me excited. Punk Mambo has that X factor that so many comics just fall short of, and it is glorious. For a great comic, and a series that may be read through independently of any of her previous appearances. Punk Mambo #3 is easily one of the best comics I’ve read this month – don’t miss this book.

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