"The Rattler" is an ultra-violent tale of obsession and revenge

Looking like a mad Lyle Lovett, his body withering away after years of obsessing over a long-lost love (in a literal sense!), Stephen Thorn's mission in life is simple: never give up the search for his fiancee, who disappeared mysteriously some ten years ago on an open, deserted highway.  Now, set with a lead that may finally answer the one question he's been asking himself all these years, he's turned into a complete vigilante: beating people to death, as if it was second nature, and even cutting the head of a man who was about to torture him.  No, hell hath no fury like an vengeful lover scorned.

Jason McNamara and Greg Hinkle's new one-shot graphic novel, The Rattler, is a noir thriller in the truest sense of the word.  Dark (literally, due to its black & white illustrations), bleak and full of shady characters, all of which may or may not have hidden agendas contrary to their public natures, it is tale of revenge, obsession and of innocent people rotting away in captivity, reminiscent of movies such as The Vanishing (both the French original, and its US remake), and also the Australian indie gem, The Loved Ones (2009).  McNamara's writing is solid and honest; it is no wonder he based this tale on a personal experience, which just barely was able to avoid a tragic ending.  Hinkle is an artist whose illustrations don't necessarily evoke real life.  Instead, his characters appear to caricaturize the world they inhabit, much like John Layman and Rob Guillory's Chew series.  In both cases, we're given a graphic view of a world that is reminiscent of comedy, but the people in it, and the themes depicted, are violent and very much adult.

By the time The Rattler reaches its devastating conclusion, and after we, at long last, learn the fate that befell his long lost fiancee, McNamara confirms once again (as if there was any doubt to begin with) that there are no winners in neo noir tales such as this one.  Stephen Thorn had finally gotten his answer, but is his life any better for it?  Should he had just let mystery regarding his fiancee's remain unsolved?  What had he gained as a result, except madness and even further heartbreak?  As the saying goes, What does the answer the man has searched for really solve, if once he gets it, he should completely lose his mind?
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