The Strange Talent of Luther Strode #6 Comic Book Review

Article by FisterRoboto of lefthandhorror.com

Written by Justin Jordan

Art by Tradd Moore & Felipe Sobreiro

New comic Wednesday is a great thing. Comic enthusiasts have new reading to look forward to once a week. I’m always excited to get my fresh stack, but this week, man, this week I was excited to get this book in my hands.

I fell in love with a scrawny dork named Luther Strode just a few issues ago. Relax, not in a weird NAMBLA kind of way, but out of the sheer originality and creativity behind The Strange Talent of Luther Strode. When we left our anti-hero last month, he was finding out the seriousness and finality of his newly chosen path.

If you keep reading, please be aware that I’m about to go all types of SPOILER ALERT.

As feared in issue #5, Pete dies. He hangs on just long enough to help Luther find his mother. Such a sad scene to see these best friends saying goodbye in such a manner. Pete dies being as much a hero as Luther. I loved Pete. Burning with fury and justified worry, Luther makes his way to The Librarian.

We all knew this master-versus-apprentice type of endgame brawl was going to be nothing short of sheer brutality. It delivers. Some questions are answered, and new ones are raised. The Librarian mentions how terrible it would have been for the entire town if “Cain”, the person responsible for dispatching him to watch Luther’s progress, had decided to show up in person. We know the mysterious and single of purpose Librarian has a boss. Imagine what that dude has to be like.

The fight rages, each opponent unleashes some significant blows. Luther literally has his guts ripped out and is tossed away with them. I have to once again mention how amazing these epic action segments are drawn. Moore has presented the violent intensity in a very cinematic fashion. Your eyes can barely scan from panel to panel fast enough.

During the brawl, The Librarian gives his young student some advice about being precise, about being in total control as you do battle. Sometimes mistakes are made he mentions. Luther swings wildly at his enemy and rams his fist through his mother’s throat. Luther wraps his large intestines around The Librarian’s neck and pulls. How’s that for some bad ass brawling?

Of course with this being a horror-filled comic, the bad guy is never dead the first time. It appears (for the time being) that regardless of how powerful you are, you can die if your head and spinal column are ripped from your body. The police arrive at the scene of the fight and Luther knows what he has to do to end this. He walks out into a barrage of fire and our hero dies.

RIP, Luther.

Three pin-up pages later we find out why we can expect THE LEGEND OF LUTHER STRODE in October. I knew this comic was too good to not continue, and I’m glad that fan appreciation is high. I can’t tell you have pissed I would have been if this brilliant dark horse ended up getting the Arrested Development treatment.

This is the finest, most genuine feeling comic I’ve read in years. For titles based on brand new characters, aside from Miles in the new red and black suited Ultimate Spider-Man, I think I have to go all the way back to Brian K. Vaughn’s Runaway’s, to find something as good. I mean The Runaway’s Volume One obviously.

I’m sure there is a tpb right around the corner in case you missed this beauty. Ask your local comic book shop to get this in your hands. Come on, October!