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Third Wheel: Issue 2, Part 3

Updated: Apr 17, 2022

Pajama party.



Issue 2, pages 9 and 10


You can tell Locke is written by someone not far out of college by his morning routine. And his willingness to go to work hungover. I know the 2005 Tim that wrote this was like "I could go until bar time and then pull a major heist the next night" but I'm reading this like: "I'd be asleep by 8:00 pm and accomplish nothing prior to that."


Panel four on page 10 is a rare case of me not loving 2005 Tim's choice here. I'm all for Daniels and Paige sleeping together but I would have preferred to have not made it overtly about hurting Locke for her and this grin says that was her plan. It would have been more respectful to her character to just have her walk right by like it's no big deal and that may have arguably been a bigger twist of the knife to Locke. "I'm over you and I don't care what you think." In fairness, this is a good time to remind you that the Tim writing this did not have a lot of experience with women.


Issue 2, pages 11 and 12


Daniels coming out swinging with a rare one-liner!

That line was too good to pass on but the rest of this exchange is very on-brand for Daniels. He absolutely doesn't think he did anything wrong here. I don't think Daniels is a full-on sociopath but he does not consider Locke a friend and moreover by his own pragmatic moral code Locke and Paige are done so even if he did care what Locke thought why would Locke care? If he realized that he probably would have turned Paige down for the good of the job because that's the kinda guy he is.


Locke obviously IS hurt and did think that he and Daniels were friends and obviously, there's still a part of him that cares for Paige, and oh man what a hot mess this is.


Issue 2, pages 12, 13 and 14


It's the part where the heroes fight each other! Everybody loves this part!


The line "You always underestimate me, don't you?!" makes it pretty clear that this is about more than just this one moment and that Locke has just HAD IT with everyone treating him like an incapable nobody. In a lot of ways, this moment is kind of the denouement of Reckless Life. (But there are still more fun stories to come!)


I remember this fight sequence being longer than it is but as a reminder, I did post this comic one page at a time so long fight scenes really did drag. I would have given this moment a bit more breathing room in a perfect world.


There's a pretty solid punch panel at the bottom of page 12 but page 13 is kinda blah. I can tell that 2005 Tim couldn't work out that pose on Locke in the lower left and just filled the background in black for a horror movie effect. It works but I can tell it's a cheat.


Page 14 bounces back pretty strong with some great use of red, a cool layout (dig the replicated silhouettes hiding in the gutter above panel 5), and possibly the only toes in Reckless Life.


Issue 2, page 15


Action-wise this is the best page in the sequence. I love the angle on panel 1 and the inset Samurai Jack eye reaction. You can really feel Daniels getting slammed into the wall too. (Maybe he DID underestimate Locke a little.) I always liked that pistol-whip panel too.


And after all this Daniels may threaten Locke but he also offers him an extra cut from his own pocket. A wheeling and dealing criminal in need of help or is he actually feeling a bit sorry? I guess we'll see!


NEXT TIME: The big heist begins!





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