The Fix #5 Review

The Fix #5 
Writer: Nick Spencer
Artist: Steve Lieber
Colors: Ryan Hill
Letters: Ironbark
Publisher: Image
Reviewed by David Hildebrand 

A few of days ago, I engaged in a conversation with another comic book writer on a social media site.  Someone posted the cover for The Fix #5 and a comment was made about the popularity of the book because the cover was lacking or something to that extent. I just went back to go see exactly what was said and conveniently it was all erased but my posts. Fair enough, I stand by my opinion, I would think the writer would have done the same but I guess not. I was asked why I liked the book so much, so I explained why. All the opposite party seemed to have gotten out of what I said was “crooked cops” and then immediately jumped into the “Nick Spencer is Un-American. Of course he would write about crooked cops.” I told him he was entitled to his opinion but was missing out on a fantastic book.  Why am I rehashing this conversation?  Because honestly, I am tired of all the Spencer bashing that has been going on due to Captain America.  Spencer creates story lines, that is what they are. So this is the first/last time I will say this, everyone needs to calm down and let the story play out.  As far as judging all his other works as sucking or being “Un-American” due to the opinion of his Cap story, well that sounds like some have their own insecurities to work out and those insecurities are keeping them from reading a pretty damn funny book.  However, after saying all of that The Fix continues to sell out, resulting into multiple printings for each issue. So for every one that isn’t pleased with Spencer and wants to hate, there are plenty of us that disagree and continue to support good books.

*Sigh* Now that I have said that, where are we in The Fix?  We are in it deep as usual!  This issue takes us back to Elania, the actress that Roy was assigned to protect, only to get shot to death and have her house blown up!  Harrison from Internal Affairs and Roy are trying to piece things together on what’s going on and who committed the crime.  Of course, things couldn’t be that cut and dry with this crew.  Now we have the 28 year old Mayor thrown into the mix.  And trust me, he isn’t any better than Roy or Mac. The Mayor, Kendall Kincaid, hasn’t grown up himself. He is a gamer that takes Roy’s advice by calling the SWAT team to raid the house of a rival video game player. Very amusing and wait til you see his father’s picture! (also a former Mayor).  In between the press conference with Roy and the Mayor to discuss the death of the actress, we get a quick glimpse at how Mac and Pretzels is doing. We also see the crime boss Josh taking some time out for yoga. By now, you know that it probably isn’t as simple as it sounds.  And by the end of the issue, things get a bit more complicated!

Spencer has made me laugh all the way through this first arc and continues with the start of this new one. His story leans on 90’s crime caper comedies.  It is all very entertaining and there isn’t a Red Skull in sight.  Lieber’s art is what fully makes this story complete.  You haven’t seen anything til you’ve seen supporting character Donovan’s “giraffe tongue” Hill’s colors add to the mood and I dig his shading.

Verdict:
Buy it! I have loved this book from the start.  It is consistently a book that I will pick up and laugh at. It’s very smart, low brow humor at its best.  Very entertaining book! It continues to sell out and for good reason.  The first trade is out, go pick it up!  I don’t think that you will be disappointed, put aside all of the negativity that you might have towards Spencer, he writes some creative stories, as well as some great comical dialogue!

Hail Hydra.