May 1999
Part 2 (of 4)
by Peter Milligan, Edvin Biuković, Lee Loughridge, Robert Solanovicz
Chance and Chance (Tom McFadden) start to talk. The conversation is just getting underway when Emerald, the assassin, returns. The fight spills out on to the street. A couple of innocent people are killed as she tries to kill both Chances. She disappears in the confusion that erupts.
Dee Noyz, a gang leader, learns from a woman who owes him that Reverend Earl James isn’t everything that he claims to be.
Chance tells McFadden a bit about his past. McFadden used to be his assistant, his understudy. McFadden doesn’t immediately snap back to who he was before he started pretending to be Chance.
Emerald (aka Emma) returns home to her “civilian” life and identity, to her husband and Zoe, their daughter. She reassures them that everything is alright despite the bandages on her right hand.
Tom goes out looking for answers. He has a few drinks and gets into a fight. He sees a sign advertising a church, with a preacher on it. It makes him think of his time impersonating Reverend Earl James.
The real Reverend Earl James tries to kill himself. Chance visits his psychiatrist and then later with Becky, Tom’s wife. She isn’t exactly happy to see him and not her husband. Bethany, Earl’s wife, doesn’t know what to do but then Tom disguised as Earl, steps back into her life.
Thoughts
There’s a lot I don’t recall about this story. That’s probably a good thing. This is not the sort of story that I can zip through. I probably read each panel a few times. The various subplots are layered together in ways that reward repeat readings and that merit close attention.
I’m still not completely on board with Tom McFadden (a White man) impersonating the Reverend Earl James (a Black man). Bethany doesn’t get much time to react to his reappearance at the of this chapter but I suspect that she may be needy enough to overlook the obvious.
This is as good as I remembered it being. I am eager to see how it all turns out.
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