"Nailbiter: Blood in the Water" threads in the same place w/out advancing the narrative all that much

There's blood.  And violence.  A man even gets chopped to pieces in front of Agent Barker, so much so that she begins to have delusions of grandeur when it comes to thirst for blood.  And Agent Finch even begins to eat his own fingernails just to get a reaction out of Edward "Nailbiter" Warren, the infamous serial killer from Oregon who slipped through the cracks of the judicial system, and whom he's trying to torture in order to uncover certain secrets about just why so many serial killers originate from here.  Nailbiter: Blood in the Water gives us a lot of spooky imagery, but it somehow doesn't drive forward the narrative structure (with the exception of hinting at who's whose father, mother or daughter; such a revelation hardly has much significance at this point).

Writer Joshua Williamson and artist Mike Henderson keep plugging away with their serial killer capital of the world - Buckaroo - where all sorts of murders still take place, and in which Nicholas Finch, aided by the local sheriff Crane, tries to uncover the mystery of how his associate Carroll came to have his arms and legs chopped off, which resulted in him ending up in a (temporary?) coma.   There's also Father Fairgold, and his vigilante church group, dressed in matching yellow and red robes, and resembling a holy superhero troupe.  And let's not forget the ominous dark figure in a devilish mask, protecting his identity from anyone who may see him, all the while freely slicing through them with his large machete.  These elements all add up to create a dynamic series of scenes, full of mad energy, albeit with less tension and true suspense than Williamson had hoped for.  Henderson's artwork, at least, is consistent, and not as distracting than some of the less-than-inspired writing we read here.

The most interesting element of this third volume is Agent Barker's fantasizing about violence and murder, an idea that seems fitting, given this small Oregon town's ability to spawn so many blood-thirsty murderers thus far in its existence.  Will Finch and Crane finally crack the Buckaroo code and get to the bottom of it all?  Will Warren show them the secret of the town's history and tell them why he's ended up the way he has?  Will Williamson and Henderson finally give us a volume of Nailbiter that's worthy of all the hype?  I suppose I'll find that out in the next issue, although you'll have to excuse me if I don't exactly run to the comic book stores in anticipation.
C+