When a perverted crime lord sics an unstoppable assassin on her, go-girl Izzy Tyburn has a fairly unique response. Rather than fighting to stay alive, she hits the road with the aim of erasing every trace of her existence from the world before her inevitable death. Violence and weirdness ensue.
Coffin Bound comes to us courtesy of writer Dan Watters (Lucifer) and artist Dani (2000 AD), with colours by Brad Simpson and letters by Andy Bidikar. It’s a hyper-violent, hip road movie of a thing, populated with strange characters swapping cool, elliptical dialogue and plenty of hot lead.
A few comparisons have been made to Tarantino, but if I was to put money on it I’d say the most direct inspirations are the pulpy, transgressive crime novels of Barry Gifford, in particular the film adaptations Perdita Durango and Wild at Heart, all hot cars, hotter desert, tight leather and blinding chrome. There’s a little West Coast Apocalyptic flavouring, ala Repo Man and Southland Tales. There’s a sense that the world is falling apart at the seams and the normal rules don’t apply any more, which helps explain the presence of Izzy’s traveling companion, a cage-cranium-ed critter called the Vulture:
…who gives her advice and may or may not be visible to other characters.
there’s also the Earth Eater, the implacable assassin on Izzy’s trail, who… well, let’s let him speak for himself:
…it’s that kinda jam. Elsewhere we get strippers that peel off their skin as well as their clothes, a cult that pares away body parts from their victims to graft onto themselves in search of perfection, and a lot of moody navel-gazing in between bursts of action.
It’s an absolute blast. Watters expertly deploys just enough info about plot, character, backstory and world to keep us up to speed with the narrative, never deluging us with reams of data. It’s hard to see if there’s a functional set of rules underpinning what we see on the page, but it feels like there is – for all the weirdness, it never feels completely scattershot. Each element speaks to a greater whole.
Dani (or DaNi if you prefer) delivers fantastic, pitch-perfect, pop art that complements the writing perfectly, thick lines and solid blacks counterpointed by Simpson’s suitably garish and expressionistic colour palette. Dani makes sexy look tough and ugly look sexy, which is a neat trick if you can pull it off, and her framing and action staging are immaculate.
Three issues were offered for review, and not a one has disappointed. Where Coffin Bound will fetch up is anyone’s guess. Will it cleave to its tragically hip death drive, or will Izzy cheat the hangman to ride another day? I’m keen to find out.
