Pigs #7

Written by Nate Cosby and Ben McCool
Art by Breno Tamura and Will Sliney

I'm starting to doubt this book on a few levels.  First, while this comic is only a month late, anyone who has followed Ben McCool's career in comics (his six issue series Choker took 26 months to complete; his six-issue Memoir had five issues in a year, and nothing has been published in five months) knows that he has some serious problems with keeping to timelines.  The credits of this issue list Will Sliney as drawing the 'flashback' scenes, which is a little misleading.  If we accept the scenes in the police station as being in the present, than the scenes at the prison, which look like they were drawn by Tamura, would be the flashbacks. 

These are both minor quibbles - it's only a month late, and credits get confused, but it points to a lack of attention to this title.  The first issue of this comic really grabbed me, with its story of a Russian sleeper cell having been planted in Cuba a generation ago, which finally gets reactivated.  When we saw the twist at the end of the first issue, which involves the woman in the police station and a President's amputated body part, I was hooked. 

The problem is, now the Russian being interrogated wants to start talking, but absolutely nothing in this issue points to a reason why.  It's like the story for the next issue will need more exposition, so the writers decide it's time for her to talk.

There are a lot of twists to this comic.  We don't know what the sleepers' mission is, or why they are targeting a particular neo-Nazi who is in prison.  We don't know how the team moves from there to getting the President, or what they hope to accomplish.  All of this sounds interesting, but unlike a series like Morning Glories, which manages to heap on the mysteries and the human interest at the same time, I'm beginning to completely lose interest in these characters.

This book has a lot of potential, but it's in danger of losing me, and quickly (well, as quickly as McCool is able to finish each issue).