X has a bone to pick with Arcadia’s political kingmaker Berkshire, and the two share some “face time.” Meanwhile, Leigh’s online exposé attracts some murderously angry readers.

“FACE TIME”

Picking up right from where the previous issue left off, Leigh Burkett is trying to drag X away from the scene of the ambush that he walked into. She manages to get him into her car, and they try to drive off, but when the police pull them over, X manages to escape with the help of an improvised explosion. Mr. Berkshire is most definitely not happy about this turn of events, and demands that the police captain bring X in.

Leigh makes it back to her apartment and starts trying to figure out what happened. She recounts the history of Mr. Berkshire, who essentially runs the city of Arcadia. She realizes that X will probably make a second attempt on Berkshire’s life, so she stakes out his building. Sure enough, X shows up, thanks to the police captain, whom X has taped explosives to his neck and forced him to take him there. X stabs Berkshire and starts slices his face off, but when the captain tries to stop X, X pushed the button and blows up the captain’s head. Then X is forced to escape by jumping out the window, after getting shot again, leaving Berkshire alive. Leigh sees X leaving and follows him back to his secret hideout, but when X notices her, she panics and runs home, then updates her blog about X.

At the hospital, the doctor is to graft pig-skin onto Berkshire’s face in order to save him. And as he recovers, Berkshire reads Leigh’s blog, and tells one of his men to find out who writes it. The next day Leigh gets a folder in the mail with her picture in it, with one red line drawn across it. Uh oh…

Another fantastic issue, I’m seriously loving this series. I’m purposely spreading out these reviews just to cover more days of the month. I only say that because I don’t want anyone to think that I don’t want to just read all 10 issues, so far, and post about them in a single day. This series is worth savoring. The creative team of writer Duane Swierczynski, artist Eric Nguyen, and colorist Michelle Madsen are brining their A-game to this book, and I’m glad to be along for the ride!

FIVE STARS

AVAILABLE ON DARK HORSE DIGITAL