It’s wall-to-wall action and destruction as The Pride face off against the powerful and deadly Basher! With an innocent life hanging in the balance! Be here to see if the team can face their first major threat, or if they can even survive…

The two biggest revelations in The Pride #3 involved Bear. First we learned that he is HIV Positive (but doing well, with medication) and that before he came out he was married to a woman, and they have a son. But tragedy strikes when The Basher kidnaps Bear’s son and holds him hostage, daring Bear to come get him. Of course in this issue Bear leaps into action, followed by the rest of the team, and confronts the Basher who turns out to be way more powerful than had previously been shown. What follows is quick and brutal battle, as Basher single-handily takes on the entire team, all the while letting loose a steady-stream of hate-filled homophobic expletives. And then….y’know, this is tough. I really want to say exactly why this issue is so important but I still want to hold off on spoilers for newbies.

Okay, how about this: there is a dramatic change in the status quo of this title, as The Pride will literally never be the same after this. Writer Joe Glass is not holding back. This is the benefit of independent creator-owned comics, they can go places that books from Marvel and DC just can’t. I did NOT see the ending to this story coming, and the cliffhanger packs a hard emotional punch. Hector Barros takes over the art chores in this issue and, will all due to respect to the previous artists on this title, I think he may be the best one yet. I really dig his style.

Glass and Barros also team up on the one of the two single-page spotlight stories, this one featuring Frost and her background. And then Glass and artist Jacopo Camagni give us the origin of Twink. If you’ve been reading these reviews and are still on the fence about picking up this title, get off the damn fence already.

Chacebook rating: FIVE STARS

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