Apache Delivery Service #3: Bump in the Night

Apache Delivery Service #3 leaves Ernie in an interesting position. He is officially AWOL and just learned that the man he has been on a treasure hunt with is the serial killer they have been wary of. This issue ends before we see what Ernie does about Sobrat, but the preview for the next issue suggests that they continue looking for the gold. The final pages show closeups of Sobrat, a possibly dead hunter from the flashback, the deer, and back to Ernie. This might suggest that Sobrat is like the hunter, he gets what he wants but ends up paying the price. That might mean that Ernie is like the deer, which I’m not sure what that means for Ernie. The deer wasn’t in a “kill or be killed” situation but it appears that Ernie is.

Tyler Jenkins’ style works extremely well with this type of story. The wiry lines and slight inconsistencies match the gritty and unsettling nature of the story. Ernie is surrounded by death on nearly every page. The same feeling is carried over to the lettering which is also done by Tyler Jenkins. The speech bubbles look hand-drawn and not the clean, uniform bubbles you’d normally find in a comic. At times the actual lettering looks like it’s done by hand, like the powerful “WHAT ARE YOU DOING” when Ernie finds So. Tyer Jenkins’ art is very detailed when it needs to be, but Hilary Jenkins’ colors at another layer to the mood of the story. The use of dark greens and blues reminds the readers that Ernie is in the jungle surrounded by darkness and danger.