Severed #4

Written by Scott Snyder and Scott Tuft
Art by Attila Futaki

Severed continues to be an excellent Depression-era coming of age horror comic, with a strong focus on character.  This issue hinges on an event that I don't really understand though, and that caused me to be thrown out of the story completely.

To begin with the positive, I've really enjoyed reading about the friendship between Jack and Sam.  They've become a good team, looking out for one another on the road, and finding in the other a loyal companion.  They have a pretty big fight this issue, over the entrance of Alan Fisher, who claims to be a Victrola salesman, although we readers know he's a predatory cannibal.

This leads to my problems with this issue.  Previously, Sam had stolen Fisher's business card, which we saw him take from the real Alan Fisher a couple of issues back.  She calls the number, and speaks to someone at RCA Victor, who suggests he meet her at a diner in a remote setting.  In typical horror comic fashion, she agrees, and doesn't seem to find anything strange about a completely abandoned restaurant in the middle of nowhere, where she discovers that the RCA guy she spoke to is really.... (I'm sure you can guess).

This doesn't work.  If he altered the phone number so it would be his own, why bother using the card in the first place?  Also, it's the Depression and we've established that the guy is living in a rooming house.  He wouldn't have his own phone, so the fact that he answered when Sam called doesn't make sense.  I understand that something like this would need to happen to continue the plot, but it just doesn't work for me.

I'll look past this though, as the rest of the comic works very well.