‘The Goon Volume 5: Wicked Inclinations’ – Eric Powell (Dark Horse)

So I had to spend a little time in the hospital, the other day, having an iron infusion; basically sitting there reading and playing on my phone while the good stuff was pumped into me. I’ve definitely had worse hospital appointments ;o)

What did I read then? Well, ‘In the Shadow of their Dying’ is proving to be an excellent read but maybe not quite what I was after that morning. The clue is, of course, in the title… Yep, it was a morning for catching up on my ‘Goon’ re-read and I have to say, I had forgotten quite how good ‘Wicked Inclinations’ is…

Buzzard has learned the Zombie Priest’s secret name, turning the tide in the struggle against the undead hordes of Lonely Street. Unable to harvest fresh corpses from the cemetery, and with the crimes of his past threatening to catch up with him, the Priest is forced to create a whole new breed of minion – one that may be beyond even the strength of the Goon to contain. As rival crime families attempt to use the battle as cover to move in on the Goon’s empire, open war breaks out from the docks to Lonely Street.

The Goon must become more ruthless than ever to counter his enemies wicked inclinations…

For me, ‘Wicked Inclinations’ is where all the pieces that Powell has been arranging finally fall into place and the main thrust of this arc can finally begin. I say ‘all’… There’s one more piece but it’s so big that it gets a whole book to itself and we’ll talk about that next week. There’s plenty enough to be going on with here though, you’re not missing out, not when it’s all rushing at you in a hail of bullets, zombies and the introduction of the Priest’s new army.

There is a lot going on here and just watching it all barrel past really makes me aware of how well Powell balances everything. There are touches of horror that weave in and out of the tragedy of Norton’s family and are especially present in the introduction of the Chugheads. At the same time though, Powell has the Goon and Franky unionizing ghosts and gives us further insight into the horny/perverted mind of Franky. Add in some pulp crime intrigue (and I love the energy in the panels where the Goon is ambushed) and that’s a lot of moving parts that need to do their thing and not crash into each other. Powell doesn’t let that happen once, employing a real deft on the plot so that everything just seems to spark off each other. It’s never too silly but the tragedy of the Goon never gets you too down much either. There’s always something happening at just the right moment.

‘Wicked Inclinations’ was just the book for a mornings iron infusion then and if that’s a little too specific, I’ll quite happily confirm that it’s the book you need for any number of situations where a good book is handy. And the best is yet to come, ‘Chinatown’ is up next.