Virgil

By Steve Orlando, J.D Faith, Chris Beckett

“How do you know my name?”

“Opened your wallet. Not to mention it’s in every newspaper.”

Writer Steve Orlando tells the tale of Virgil, a cop who’s seen better days – most recently the day before he found himself in the hospital. A raid gone wrong robs Virgil of the one he loves. With his wounds still healing he sets out looking for revenge, before hopefully retiring to the wonderful Toronto. A great line that leads into the intense action of this story comes when a doctor tries to tell Virgil that everything will be okay.

“Flight leaves in the morning. You won’t ever have to come back.”

“What if I’m not ready to leave?”

A line like this sets the tone for every action movie – which is essentially what this comic is (think John Wick). Orlando has concocted a huge reason for Virgil to go on this revenge fueled journey through the city, all while we’re reminded that the underlying reason focuses on the loss of his loved one.

Virgil faces a world where everyone seems to be against him and he knows his time is running out to find the one he’s lost. Even though Virgil gets put into these difficult situations writer Steve Orlando does well to make him still seem human as we see him trying to talk his way out of death, or even get wounded. It’s clear the main character of this story is no unbreakable Superman, but is propelled ever forward by shear will.

The artist on this story is J.D Faith, along with colorist Chris Beckett. A scene where Faith does a lot with the panels takes place after Virgil leaves the doctor — a scene out of the action movies. We see Virgil on the top of the page in a panel that stretches across as Faith depicts everyone around the bar getting tense. The next panel features Virgil delivering his next attack while his face is left in the shadows as Beckett adds pale colors to everyone around him, causing Virgil to still stand out. Cue the memorable fight sequence! (there’s also plenty others)

Faith makes sure to give each panel its own sense of setting – as opposed to placing flat colors in the background. Throughout the story Faith is giving Beckett plenty to play around with in terms of the colors of this city, and this comes especially into play during the outside scenes. As we see most of the story’s grim scenarios taking place in dark blues and purples, while some of the lighter toned moments taking place in pinks and yellows (our first introduction to Ervan he is wearing bright yellow as well).

Something that is done well once the action kicks up is the level of suspense Orlando brings to this story. Faith and Beckett bring these scenes into the night as Virgil begins to take revenge on all those who have wronged him – this isn’t a guy you want to piss off. He’s a man on a mission, and there are a lot of people standing in his way. Will he be able to finish the job?