Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #5 Review: All Over

Just like how Prohibition came to an end, the noir style comic “Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand” has ended with its fifth comic. Does the story of our little prohibition era vigilante end on a high note? It starts off sweet and then ends sour.

The gang of vigilantes close in on Wald after our black fire spewing friend gets carted off by the fuzz. What follows is non-stop action filled with guns blaring and some of the best action seen in comics history.

“Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #5” is a real page turner that makes you want to see what happens next. Just like any good noir story, it is nonstop action that keeps you reading and wanting to know where the bad guys are and where the big payoff is.

The big payoff is, sadly, zombies-er, sorry, “cannibals.” Ones that live in the sewer and have come up to attack our heroes. This is where the story puts on the breaks and comes to a screeching halt. Yes, this story does take place in the same world as Hellboy, but “cannibals” seems like a very lazy enemy for our heroes to fight after everything they’ve been through. Plus, they just come out of nowhere and make no sense in context of the story.

Not to mention to story has no closure at all. It leaves the reader unsatisfied and the comic basically says “read the rest of the stories in the Hellboy universe to see what happens next.”

As for Cindy Tynan, she ends the comic the same way the started. No development whatsoever and has shown to be a useless character that has done literally nothing at all throughout the series.

At least the art work has stayed great throughout the series. In fact, the art is one of the reasons the fight against the “cannibals” was worth looking at. It was so well put together that you’d swear these were real humans they were fighting.

“Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand” has come and gone. It was a great series overall with a classic-noir art, story and interesting characters (besides Tynan). Don’t let the bitter aftertaste this cocktail has ruin your enjoyment. Savor the noir goodness for as long as possible and then spit it out at the end. Just don’t let the fuzz catch ya.