While the series isn't really broken into what we might call discrete arcs, a number of the ongoing plot threads come to a head in this issue. Well, at least one very important one, to do with Gantry, the evangelical preacher who is a pervasive presence of the cell block. A few issues earlier, Gantry executes a pedophile, ostensibly in the name of God, and since has had his eyes on Ethan, whom he suspects of harbouring a demonic presence. Which, for all we know, he might.
Gantry's comeuppance in this issue speaks once again to the wish-fulfillment aspect of the series - Ethan manages to circumvent prison rules and makes a fairly technologically-sophisticated weapon in the toilet section of his cell, using it to fend off Gantry. Somewhat permanently, if we're to be honest. And again, I like it because if definitely feeds into some of the thoughts and beliefs I've always had about myself. But something about Ethan's situation makes those thoughts and beliefs seem ridiculous. How plausible is it that someone like Ethan, of for that matter someone like me, could survive, and even to a certain extent flourish, in a place like a penitentiary?
Now, all this said, I'm sure that the portrayal of prison that we are exposed to in media is quite unlike what actually happens inside such an institution. We need our drama in our media, so of course we have protagonists like Ethan. There are no protagonists in real life, at least not protagonists with the kinds of resources and, let's be honest, luck that Ethan has. Which will not stop me, at all, from enjoying the fantastic nature of his ability to survive prison.
More to follow.
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