Tigress Island #3 // Review
The warden walks-in. She says, “My brand is quality.” Okay...but she’s just walked into a facility with a huge hydro-electric dam carrying a huge firearm having killed a whole bunch of her own employees. So y’know...it’s kind of difficult to focus on what she’s trying to say about her self-image. She’s about to get really, really angry in Tigress Island #3. Writer Patrick Kindlon and artist EPHK continue a deeply enjoyable action horror series that reaches its midway point with style, class and more than a bit of inspired weirdness. The “escape the island” premise continues to hold a lot of appeal.
The warden is holding a gun to Bridget’s head. Bridget isn’t able to do much except beg for her inhaler. The warden has a bullwhip around Bridget’s neck. The warden’s message is pretty clear: go with her or Bridget dies. Lonni is calling her bluff. They’re all being forced to be prostitutes. Kill a new girl and you’re destroying your own merchandise at the possible threat of being swarmed by a bunch of angry would-be escapees. It’s just not worth it. Of course...the women looking to escape DID have to escape through an area that the warden turned into an abattoir, so it might be dangerous to make assumptions...
Kindlon’s pacing of the action feels more or less perfect. The group of women looking to escape run into a few different encounters as they make their way away from the warden who is pursuing them. The warden continues to be a really appealing sort of antagonist...elegantly efficient and formidable even as she’s continually having difficulty with the heroic group of women looking to escape. It’s a fun dynamic with a lot of interesting surprises that pop-up here and there.
EPHK stylish shoots the action across the page as the heroines make their desperate attempt to escape the island. There’s a whole lot of beauty on the page in an island paradise as beautiful women try to escape the danger that’s being presented to them. There’s real terror that’s drawn into the emotions that are being presented on the page. As dark as it feels in so many ways, EPHK manages to maintain the overall sense of glamor about the visuals that keeps it visually appealing from cover to cover.
Survival might not be entirely guaranteed for everyone in the party of heroines, but it’s nice to see things moving along as efficiently as they do through the end of the third issue. Kinflon and EPHK make a rather large ensemble of characters gorgeously distinct in and amongst each other as the events rush across the page. There are just enough surprises in the course of the issue to keep everything moving without losing the emotional connection with the characters. There’s real power in the ensemble that is completely essential to keep the action from overpowering the emotional center that makes Tigress Island much more than a simple action survival serial.
