Nancy investigates her escape from Sparkletown while she searches for her father, and runs into an old client along the way.
REDLANDS #6
Authors: Jordie Bellaire
Artists: Vanesa R. Del Rey
Colors: Jordie Bellaire
Letters: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Image Comics
What You Need to Know:
A coven of three witches, Bridget, Alice, and Ro, took over the town of Redlands, Florida in 1977. In the present day, they act as the law. But the town has mysterious things going on. Serial killers, crocodile men, and many strange disappearances occur regularly, bringing the small town closer and closer to the national spotlight.
Upon her return from an injury sustained from fighting a potential serial killer discovered by Laurent, Bridget has been acting strangely. She digs up a cold case regarding a missing person named Nancy Montgomery. She reveals to Casper, the man who usually works the front desk at the sheriff’s office, that she is not Bridgit at all, but the spirit of Nancy. Bridget has agreed to let Nancy use her physical body in order to get her revenge on the condition that if she stays one second beyond her mission, Bridget will own her soul forever.
What You’ll Find Out:
Sparkleland in 1984 shines its spotlight on a young Nancy Montgomery as a young lady trapped in the sex trafficking business. A regular client of the brothel, Ted, notices Nancy as their newest and youngest member and takes a special interest. Asking the girl for a smile, he takes her upstairs.
Back in the current day, Nancy is getting close to the trafficking businesses, Sparkletown, and finding where her father has gone. She decides to check out a diner where much of the solicitation for John’s for the brothel was performed. After a run-in with the racist and belittling woman behind the counter, the waitress turns out to be one of the former residents of Sparkletown there around the time Nancy was killed. She explains that Nancy escaped, killing a few guards, and as punishment, each of the residents at the time lost a hand to make sure they didn’t get any ideas. She goes on to explain that after she lost her hand, feeling subhuman, she was “saved” by one of her regular clients, Teddy. She encourages the pair to question Teddy about the incident and gives them her home address.
Nancy admits that while this will be difficult for her, she is dedicated to finding out where her father might be so she can enact her revenge. The interview quickly goes south as Teddy recalls Nancy, and Nancy, in turn, loses her composure. Taking some rage out on Teddy, she begins to beat him, but Teddy is quick to fight back, asking if she’s a private investigator for Nancy’s father, Kenny, living in Georgia. Nancy loses control of Bridget’s power and begins to burn the place down in an emotional scene ending with Casper comforting a broken Nancy.
What Just Happened?
The end of this arc brings to light the emotional arc of Nancy’s plight. The sad story of Nancy Montgomery has always been somewhat intangible up until now, treating her almost as if she’s an outside party. Now as Nancy takes control of her own revenge and investigation, we see her pain manifest as anger.
Coming from a dark place, the issue includes some of the hardest to read scenes in the series to date. Nancy’s abuse as a sixteen-year-old girl, people’s apathy and abhorrent behavior towards the women at Sparkletown, and even the decline and descent of the inhabitants of Sparkletown all take center stage. Del Rey’s art does a wonderful job latching onto these moments and bringing them to painful life. The final page is the most memorable and heartbreaking in the series to date and puts a nice button on the arc as a whole.
Sex trafficking and prostitution is not a light subject, but Bellaire does a wonderful job of creating sympathy for these women, and never judging the characters for their circumstances. Creating a character who entered “by choice” upon a drug addiction and effectively creating sympathy for them can be difficult, but Bellaire uses the moment to reflect that we are all just one bad choice away from rock bottom.
Rating: 9.0/10
Final Thoughts: A criminally heartbreaking issue, the lives of Sparkletown’s inhabitants, both voluntary and involuntary. Creating real depth in these characters, their pain becomes real on the page in ways that can be hard to see. Bellaire does a wonderful job to make sure these characters are not judged, and to create sympathy for their plight, removing the stigma so often associated with these topics in our culture.
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