Written by Joe Casey
Drawn by Simon Gane
Published by Image Comics

PREVIOUSLY: DUTCH #2

Here’s the final issue of this miniseries, and I’m going to announce in advice that there will be MAJOR SPOILERS. I usually try to avoid doing that, but I feel like I have no choice this time, because I need to reveal certain spoilers to explain my review.

The last line of my previous review was: I’m hoping this miniseries ends with something that puts a slight twist on this story to make this worthwhile. We’ll see.

SPOILER ALERT: It did not.

Again, as this issue is more of the same as the first 3 issues, beginning with issue #0. We see Dutch in a long action scene with a running monologue in captions that are essentially Dutch repeating how he’s gotten too old for this sh!t. Yeah, dude, we get. Seriously, it’s almost amazing how Joe Casey writes so many words that don’t actually say much.

Dutch has made it to Gerig’s hidden location for their big final showdown. They fight a bunch, a couple of times it looks like Gerig’s winning, but Dutch’s resourcefulness and quick thinking allow him to bounce back. We learn that Gerig actually wanted Dutch to find him and kill him because then Gerig’s cyborg consciousness would be unleashed into the internet making him immortal or something. The motive doesn’t matter but there are obvious questions raised here. It’s not clear why Gerig needs Dutch to kill him, why can’t he just kill himself? Or get one of his own drones to do it? And if he specifically needed or just wanted Dutch to be the one to do it, why not just show up at Dutch’s home and provoke him into a fight there, instead of going through all of this trouble to send others to attack Dutch and get him to track him down?

And here’s the even crazier part: Gerig does get defeated in the end, but it’s not Dutch!

No, suddenly out of nowhere, Bete Noir shows up and chops off Gerig’s head, while Dutch is left just sitting there watching.

Who’s Bete Noir? She’s a former teammate of Dutch’s from his Blood Squad 7 days. She appeared in one panel in issue #2, but that’s it. So yeah it’s bad enough that this series ends with some other character stealing the victory from the main character, but it’s a character they never even bothered establishing before this.

This issue ends with Dutch walking away from it all and going back to his rebuilt home out in Utah. So, right back where he started when this miniseries began. There is no real character growth or arc for him, making this miniseries feel rather pointless, to me. It’s advertised as leading to the upcoming Blood Squad 7 series, and we do see some of the unnamed new characters from the team, but since Dutch isn’t going to be part of it, it doesn’t feel like a real lead-in. It would have been different if this adventure caused Dutch to reconsider his retirement and maybe plan to mentor or trainer of the new team, figuring he could try to help them avoid the mistake of his past team but, no, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

It started of with promise but, ultimately, I find this miniseries to have been underwhelming, both in terms of story and art.

 

DUTCH #3