NO/ONE #4: Unburying the Leads

NO/ONE #4 – written by Kyle Higgins and Brian Buccellato with art from Geraldo Borges, colors by Mark Englert, and lettering from Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou – accelerates the unraveling of the NO/ONE identity mystery, with Julia and Ben both getting closer to the person underneath the mask. After the last issue’s developments, including Julia’s interviews with NO/ONE and Ben, the journalist’s credibility comes under fire from her mother. Meanwhile, Ben confronts Chuck about his connection with the murdered coach, pleading for the young man to own up to whatever he knows to help solve the case. 

While the two continue their respective searches, Senator Kemp unveils a proposition for a new law that would allow for self-defense that extends beyond physical threats. It’s a reaction to the NO/ONE situation and gives the average citizen carte blanche to kill under the guise of protection against the vigilante. Those fears of the vigilantes come to a head as the copycat Pittsburg PD discovers NO/ONE’s new target after screening the letters of Ben’s prison-bound son, Aaron. The revelation comes too late, as the copycat murders the target just as the real NO/ONE arrives. The duo fight, and the copycat escapes, leaving NO/ONE in the lurch, having to bypass the cops on site. 

The issue continues the slow-burn mystery of NO/ONE’s identity, picking up the place in paces while ensuring the writers’ hand isn’t tipped. It would be easy to have revealed the identity to the audience in issue one and kept the other characters out of the loop. Still, by retaining that mystery, the vigilante remains an enigma detached from the reader. It feeds the true crime aspect of the plot and accompanying podcast while making clear NO/ONE is less of a three-dimensional character and more of a catalyst for characters like Julia and Ben. 

The duo has locked into place as the dual leads of the series, driving the plot forward while creating the central tensions of the book beyond the vigilante’s crusade. Julia’s battle with her mother represents the constant conflict between local, hard-hitting journalism and the more reactionary, higher-budget cable news. It’s a fascinating dynamic that evokes classic Spider-Man Daily Bugle subplots and makes for an interesting reflection on modern modes of news as we watch those foundations erode in the ‘post-truth’ era. 

What Higgins and Buccellato infuse in this conflict that makes it a bit more complex is the refusal to solely lock into canonizing one at the expense of the other. Julia and her mother argue but make valid points over the course, and while the audience should lean towards the local news thanks to the empathy driven by Julia as a p.o.v character, it’s never that clear cut. Her mother makes valid points about Julia writing in a bubble and externalizes worries that circle back to the first issue. There’s no clear answer to what is the perfect solution, but it isn’t the two modes of reporting in diametric opposition. 

Borges plays up that uncertainty in those talky scenes, letting expressions and emotion come through in the medium and close-up shots. The focus is always on the character in these sequences and ensures that while the subtext of the arguments is about these lofty ideas, it’s the people on the ground that matter. It’s a great reminder of what the title is trying to explore and reinforces the street-level tone of NO/ONE. The book is a true crime/neo-noir. While the vigilante action is a selling point, it’s window dressing for this gritty exploration of the system in place to tackle the accountability of wrongdoing in a community. 

The flair and more kinetic sequences come once NO/ONE and his copycat appears, and Borges doesn’t falter in the opportunity to illustrate the action. The action feels more elevated in this issue, thanks to the copycat’s adjustments to their fighting style. Now, it incorporates tasers and a firearm, equalizing against NO/ONE’s more skilled fighting style. Borges renders these moments with hefty pencils, utilizing an interesting use of space and weight to give the sequence something more akin to a title like Nightwing. It isn’t quite the elevated action that comes with a larger superhero universe, but it moves beyond a typical fistfight. 

Borges keeps clarity as key as he plays with the angles of the panels and the movement through the penthouse apartment. The fight moves from the living room, where the target’s corpse lies, and then glides to the balcony. It’s a simple change, but it varies the location and shows how the vigilante brings unpredictability to their movement. The shift and Borges’s quick panel changes show the sleight of hand the copycat employs to access his taser and ensures the attack feels like the logical conclusion of the fight. 

The art is bolstered by Englert’s colors in the action sequence and helps to elevate the action towards something more akin to the larger Massive-Verse. As it flashes, the eerie blue of NO/ONE’s helmet overtakes the panel when it activates. That choice in color and intensity right after the mini-explosion of the copycat’s gun going off signals the shift from typical crime to the vigilante’s high-tech attack. Englert’s palettes clash in just the right way to underline the more considerable thematic tension of the series.