Loose Ends

Romance, drug-running, and the sleaziest dive bars of the American South collide in this neon-lit escapade. When drug-runner Sonny Gibson stops at an old-fashioned honky-tonk off the road, he’s not expecting much. But, as it always does for him, violence ensues—and chases him everywhere from the nightlife of South Florida to the darkest corners of his own memory. The cast is, unfortunately, an overly familiar line-up: the women are generically sexy with a dark past, the good ol’ boys are seedy, and Sonny himself is your standard enticing antihero. But the art is so sumptuous that it makes up for the script’s weaknesses. Brunner’s inventive panel structures narrow in on the achingly intimate and pull back to the zanily madcap. Renzi’s color palettes pulse off the page like a video game, whether the background is a posh hotel’s extravagance or a motel’s grime. From premise to climax, the plot is well-trod ground, but the flowers that bloom from it are lush indeed. (July)