Crude #5
Image Comics
Written By: Steve Orlando
Art By: Garry Brown
Colors By: Lee Loughridge
Lettered By: Thomas Mauer
We are nearing the end with Crude #5 and Piotr goes through quite a revelation here with what he learns about his son Kiril. Picking up where we left off from the last issue, Piotr with a couple of Kiril’s friends run off form Vitaly but it isn’t long until they have to fight. We only get a few pages here that show why Piotr was so good with his job in his past life. He wastes no time to kill off them men chasing him and he continues to shock everyone around him as Masha and Mikhail just watch him doing what he does best. The best part of this issue doesn’t come from its violence though. Even though I enjoy it very much, I find the parts of Piotr discovering more and more of the truth of Blackstone and his son more enjoyable as it really brings you more closer to him. That is what this issue is about though.
When we see Piotr talk to Masha and Kostya who is also in charge of the group known as Petropinnacle. This is the moment he learns so much about his son and seeing him breakdown shows that he is indeed a good person but the secrets is what killed their relationship. This sort of secret is something that is very much hidden away with most people who are involved in a relationship with more than one partner, especially of the same gender. I think showing how Piotr reacted to this is how many others would, but there is always that fear which is why so many don’t share certain things about their lives. Piotr knows what it’s like to keep secrets, he, of course, has very good reason to hide them but it also seemed to have brushed into a person that just closes himself up.
I’m still really enjoying the art teams work here, especially the splash of Piotr fighting on his own. I found the style works best with the action panels and for the most part works well when things are calm. It’s a style I do think not everyone will enjoy but I just like how it helps mesh everything with how gritty Blackstone as everyone here is meant to look rough like they go through hard times every day. I have not read a lot from Steve Orlando but I have to say that Crude is definitely something everyone should pick up as it stands well among many other books.