It’s interesting how this miniseries began as a simple slice-of-life tale about a young man trying to fulfill his lifelong dream of creating comic books. But beginning with the previous issue, it’s sort of morphed into a crime drama.

So Denny is in jail, and broke Max has no way of getting him out. Having figured out that this is all a frame job by Mr. Linklater to try to force Max to sell him back the rights to The Escapist, he and Case devise a rather implausible plan to coerce a confession from April Michaeux, the lawyer that Mr. Linklater hired to represent the crooks who tried to rob that retail store in the second issue. I won’t say what it is, but the plan works and they get her recorded on tape admitting that this is all a plot by Mr. Linklater to force Max’s hand. Case and Max also finally share their first kiss. But we see that their happiness is due to be short-lived, as it turns out that Denny might not survive his first night in prison.

Brian K. Vaughan knows how to amp up the drama and leave us with exciting cliffhangers that leave the reader anxious to see what happens next. And artists Jason Shawn Alexander and Steve Rolston are bringing the heat. We get a lot more of Alexander’s art in this issue, as we get more pages than usual from the fictional Escapist comic here, and that story itself is almost enough to make getting this series worth it.

Chacebook rating: FIVE STARS

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