Simply Fantastic.

That’s what I would be saying if Howard Chaykin would put just a little bit more action into this book.  I really feel like this is a hardboiled detective series and I’m starting to like it.  It’s so slow that it may turn people off, but the captions fit so nicely in parallel.  It’s a strong narrative voice.  If you aren’t reading this series, this may be a good place to jump on from.

John McClane recently ascended to NYPD detective status, a Sergeant to be exact.  Together with his new partner, Detective Olga Cruces, he must unravel a hostage situation unfolding in a seedy New York massage parlor.  In Die Hard #6, we find out the origin of McClane’s fear of air ducts and we end on a spread that will definitely have you wondering where the story will go next.

I wasn’t too sure about the series after the fourth issue, it seemed like it had potential that had suddenly died out.  I’m happy to report, that this new direction is interesting.  The art in this issue is amazing, some of the pans and wides are just so pretty to look at, and it compliments the story very well.  Our John McClane is even starting to look a bit more like Willis himself.  Any day now I’m expecting to hear the catch phrase.

We get to learn a lot about McClane in Die Hard #6, in a Jack Bauer sort of way, this is turning into his story.  We have this constant reminder of time, is Howard Chaykin just establishing scene or is he trying to show us the slow wear down of NYPD blue on the job?  As the day progresses on our hostage situation, we begin to see characters acting more crass, unafraid to voice their opinions exactly as it occurs to them.  This feels true to life in the same way as something like Rescue Me.

It’s the voice that really propells it, and you either love it or you don’t.  It’s that constant Marv(Sin City)  like drone, like a buzzing in your ear, heavy like the Manhattan summer air.  There are definitely layers to the story, and a new story arc is developing underneath our primary hostage scenario.  This is something else I have learned to love about the series, it’s so gratifying to see the parallel stories building, wondering when they will intersect.

The thing about the series is that when you watch the films, you can see how disastrous the situation is going to get for John McClane.  In Die Hard Year One, there is a tension building but it never quite releases in the disastrous bubble you want it to.  It’s strangely effective on me, but for how long?  It’s definitely called Year One for a reason.

I’m Rich, and I’ll leave the light on for you.

Richard Bashara
Rich@ComicImpact.com