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Horror Abounds in Leftovers Book 3

Horror Abounds in Leftovers Book 3

Welcome to this week’s second dose of Inside the Indies! This time, we’re onto Leftovers Book Three by Jason Pittman. As you might’ve guessed, Book Three is preceded by Book 1 and Book 2. You all know my spiel by now so let’s stop wasting time!Leftsover 3 Jason Pittman

Leftovers Book 3
Writer: Jason Pittman
Artist: Jason Pittman

Starting this horror anthology is The Fifteen Ladies of Walter Thurman. Of the tales presented, this felt the most like an episode of The X-Files. Walter’s wife passed away some 14 years ago ,and he hasn’t coped quite so well with it. Viewing hers as a meaningless death, he opts to kill a woman a year in what he believes to be a meaningless death. The artwork for our main character is consistent throughout and sometimes you may well wish it wasn’t so detailed, too. This particular story, while on the whole works, loses its edge in the dialogue. It feels a bit clunky and considering the context, less could’ve been more. Learning backstory is great, but it feels like too much is told.

The Bubble-Gum Psycho is a character that needs an ongoing series. He’s a man driven towards justice, no matter the culprit. You have to admire that in a private eye. He’s no doubt deranged and if he existed in the real world, would be despicable. But on the page? His fantasies amuse in their outlandishness. Like Deadpool, pretending to be a private eye. Frightening, because the man can do serious damage, but funny because you’re not in his way.

A Zombie Story features exactly zero words and it doesn’t need a one. A man fights his way back into his house, which, as the title implies, is over-run by zombies. The best parts of this story are the expressions. We get flashes of our protagonist’s face during action scenes and each time it’s really emotive. Maybe it’s fear or anger or anxiety, but you know exactly what you’re looking at. The ending is why, should a zombie outbreak occur, you need to have said your good-byes in advance.

To end, we have A Honest Denial. Up until the last few panels, this one could’ve worked in Book Two. It has a quick callback to Book One that doesn’t detract from the story, which is what you really hope for from a callback. The art also resembles Book One, namely in the faces. But it’s the seething, obsessed anger that sets this story apart from the others in this collection. You can just feel it drenching the panels.

Leftovers3pg14ZombiesOverall? We’re seeing more consistent art and the different styling of The Bubble-Gun Psycho and A Zombie Story really helps this anthology stand out from the others. The internal/external dialogue can get a bit wordy, but it’s not like that in every story. Whereas the explaining works in A Honest Denial, it detracts from The Fifteen Ladies of Walter Thurman. But considering 3 of 4 stories in Book Three work so completely, the misstep in the first is easy to let slide. It’ll be exciting to see where Book 4 goes.

 All of Leftovers can be purchased at IndyPlanet, and you can catch Jason Pittman at the VA Comic Con November 23-24, in Artist Alley at table A23.

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