Writer: Justin Jordan, Tradd Moore

Artist: Tradd Moore, Stephen Green

Colors: Felipe Sobreiro

Luther Strode has been one of my favorite series in the last few years. The main character goes from a scrawny teen to gaining great muscle mass, supernatural reflexes, and violent tendencies. All with the help of a book called “The Hercules Method” but not without a cost. With his girlfriend Petra, he seeks out the creator to put an end to him. After last issue’s insane fight against The Gardener Nikolai, Luther hopes to get closer to finding Cain by going to Hong Kong. There, he confronts The Shooter but is he a friend or foe? The second story is by Tradd Moore which continues the backstory of the twins that were featured in The Legacy of Luther Strode #1.

Justin Jordan does a good job handling these characters and setting up some good dialogue. There isn’t much story this issue, but Luthor looking for the location of the big bad. The confrontation between The Shooter and Luthor is interesting with both having diverse ideologies. As with the confrontation with The Gardner, Luthor doesn’t want to kill but rather tries to stop the killing at the source. Throughout the fight that happens we do get to see glimpses of The Shooters past, which makes sense as to why he would kill people rather than not or the people in the alley. Petra offsets Luthor by being the hyper girlfriend spewing profanity when crazy things happen. She brings a lot of the comedy into the title and it works. Delilah is there as well, but it seems like she is only helpful in certain situations. There’s also some air of mystery with her that hasn’t been shown yet, but I’m curious to see what goings to happen to her. I don’t have any complaints with this issue.

The second story by Moore is short and sweet. A little kid is getting picked on and they show up. The dialogue is fun and shows how dangerous they are, what they want out of life, and how the two view others. They do end up meeting a foe of Luthor’s and have a chat. It wasn’t bad and I want to see where this goes. Also, we don’t know the twins names yet which is perplexing. 

Tradd Moore has made me love this series so much. The hyperkinetic art style really lends to the story and makes the action over the top crazy. The movement of the characters and positions as Luthor and Shooter fight is amazing. The gunplay alone from The Shooter is phenomenal, the way he sets up his shots, the ricochets, and explosive power of the bullets themselves is beautiful. and destructive. Also, Luthor’s immense power on display looks fantastic. The design of The Shooter looks cool as he reminds me of Django. Stephen Green tackles the next story and dials back on the action. The characters in the second story look great and look more human that super muscled Luthor. The twins look polar opposite as usual until meeting an old foe of Luther’s which gives them both a creepy smile. Felipe Sobreiro matches Tradd Moore’s style with his colors as bullets pass by and shift of the environment. The colors help with matching the feel of the action. With the second story, Sobreiro uses more browns to show the shift from the main story and use of various colors to show the shift from certain scenes.

This chapter of Luthor Strode was fun and highlights how crazy the series is. The writing and art work well together as well as the art for both stories. There is some good and bad news. The next few issue will be longer but won’t be out until next year.

5 Curving bullets out of 5