Blood Tree #3: In The Theater of Ante

BLOOD TREE #3 has an unfortunate yet necessary job, having to leave some of the previous issue’s well-done character work behind in order to bring about plot development. Regardless, this issue is still entertaining. It does rely on the laziest tropes in pulp mystery, such as Detective Azzaro’s magical epiphany that leads our characters closer to the truth, but even the worst cliche’s could barely phase this book’s technical quality.

The plot follows Azzaro and Diaz as their first interaction with the ‘Angel Killer’ unfolds, inciting a tense and violent stand-off in the middle of Van Cortland Lake. From there, the story ramps up slowly, the two licking their wounds and eventually discovering exactly where their killer has been hiding, leaving the issue off on a massive cliffhanger.

Tomasi and co. do a great job of stringing the reader along this issue with raw, adrenaline riddled moments of action and well-written bouts of conversation between our two star detectives. When it comes down to brass tacks, this issue is just well-done plot and action, peppering in some extremely tense situations throughout.

Simic’s art will still be very hit and miss for those interested in checking out this series. It at times doesn’t feel like it fits the plot, while at others really highlights and accentuates both the grounded nature of our main character and the simply grotesque nature of our winged-serial killer.