Elephantmen #40

Written by Richard Starkings
Art by Tony Parker, Blond, and Rob Steen

Elephantmen is between large story arcs right now, for the first time in a very long time, and that gives Richard Starkings the chance to poke around in some of the less-seen corners of his complex fictional world, and to spotlight some of the supporting cast who only rarely are given much screentime.

This issue opens with an attack on the Eye of the Needle, the floating restaurant owned by Casbah Joe.  The guy who is attacking is some sort of gangster who was once The Silencer's boss, until he turned on him.  The Silencer is the invisible assassin who has been dumping bodies in a river since this series began.  He lives at the Eye, as does the dancer Panya, who is best known to Elephantmen readers as Sahara's body double.

This is a good action issue, and it has some very nice art from the team of Tony Parker (who is new to me), and the colourist Blond, who has been making a name for himself (herself?) with some very nice digital paints. 

This issue also has the concluding two parts to Rob Steen's back-up, which has been centred on the early days of Mappo's transgenics program.  It's a sad story, used to underscore (once again) the heartlessness of Dr. Nikken, the creator of the Elephantmen.

It seems that this series is getting caught up in its schedule again, which is always a good thing.