Axis: Carnage #3 Review!

 What happens when you take a psychopathic serial-killer who wears a murderous alien as clothes and flip his morality? The word ‘hijinks’ comes to mind. As it turns out, Axis: Carnage #3 is a little light on the hijinks, but it is full of character.

I have to say, I was really surprised by this mini-series. What I thought would be essentially a “throw away” cash-in story with Carnage has turned out to be a thoughtfully entertaining look at the character. It’s a better book than it has be.

In the third and final issue, Sin-Eater has kidnapped morally ambiguous reporter Alice Gleason and plans to “cleanse” her as he did to various other media-types in the previous issues. Carnage is still on his quest to become a hero, despite his twisted serial-killer mind hampering his best efforts to do so. Oh, by the way, when I said in my last review that I thought Sin-Eater  was “poised to have a large role in the next issue,” I didn’t know how correct I really was.

The resolution of the story takes a surprising twist away from where I thought it would go. We get a little more on the true nature of the new and supernaturally powered Sin-Eater, though his true identity is left a little murky. I really liked what writer Rick Spears did with that character and it fit well in this story. Carnage actually gets a couple of truly heroic moments and you end up rooting for Cletus by the end. Maybe this hero thing could work out for him…?

The art by German Peralta maintains it’s quality in this issue, so everything I said last time applies here as well. Rain Beredo’s coloring still stands out, too. It’s always nice to see consistent quality in a non-mainstream title.

There isn’t much bad I have to say about this issue, other than the jokes felt a little forced this time, but I think it’s because the story had to transition to a more serious tone. I could also complain about the sub-plot concerning Alice’s career choices was left unresolved, but I honestly didn’t really notice that the thread was left dangling right away. I only thought of it later.

Overall, this was a very well written mini that took a look into one of Marvel’s crazier characters and managed to make him sympathetic and change his status quo in a way that could stick if they choose to keep it. Like I said before, if you’re a fan of Carnage, this series is a must read.

CBH Score: 4.0 of 5.0

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