The Fix #3
Writer: Nick Spencer
Artist: Steve Lieber
Colorist: Ryan Hill
Letterer: Nic J Shaw
Publisher: Image
Reviewed by David Hildebrand
Ever see the movie Billy Madison? If so, do you remember the beginning when he is laying by the pool in a drunken stupor with his friends, and each of them are asking what day it is? Then Billy jumps up and yells “It’s nudie magazine day!” and rushes to the mailbox. This is EXACTLY how I am when I know the next issue of The Fix is coming out. This book has quickly become one of my favorite books, if not my favorite of the year so far.
We are in issue 3 of The Fix and the whole story isn’t quite laid out on the table yet, except that Roy owes money to a pretty evil cat named Josh. Each issue evolves and leads to another piece of the puzzle. This issue starts out with the quick glimpse at a young lady growing up as a child star, doing sitcoms, the teen Disney type thing, and then moving on to her movie career and the dirty vices she has picked up along the way. Next we see Mac having a dinner meeting with a guy named Donovan. You don’t know the main subject they are conversing about at first. There are talks about treatments and scripts, the best way about getting one, and the issues with having to pay for a script, compared to telling a writer they just want a treatment. Because writers will do a treatment for free! (This is fact, all us writers do many things for free!) The dinner ends with a young lady emerging from underneath the table, yes read that again, then go out and buy the issue to see for yourself.
Flash forward to Roy taking out the lovely young actress that was introduced in the beginning of the book. He has landed a gig being her private security. He tolerates her attitude and the heated situations that she gets herself involved with in hopes that at the end of this crazy night he will give her this made up script and get her to agree to star in it. Things escalate and the issue turns as crazy as you can expect with this series.
Spencer and Lieber continue to produce comic magic. The dialogue is what really grabs you in this book and the previous issues as well. There are some books in the past that I have encountered that start off with a bang, only to have the second issue and thereafter not even come close to capturing the feel of the premier issue. I am so psyched that this hasn’t happened. I laugh out loud with this book. The two characters are a mix of Riggs and Murtaugh from Lethal Weapon, mixed with Jules and Vince from Pulp Fiction. The colors by Ryan Hill are soothing and beautiful to look at. They give you the feel of a Hollywood movie. I gush over this book maybe a bit too much, but it really is enjoyable.
The Verdict
Buy it! If you’ve read my reviews for issue one and issue two of The Fix, you know how much I am in love with it. I have quite a number of books that I read, but when this one comes out it’s first in my stack to be read. And it pleases me that this has kept its pace and dialogue. I’m not bored with this book, it is very witty and pleasing to the eye to read. Spencer and Lieber are quickly becoming one of my favorite creative teams. I am trying not to sound like a broken record, I really am, but if you haven’t checked The Fix out, then you need to go out right now and pick it up! The first issue is in its third printing, the second issue is in its second printing.
