‘Dutch’ TPB (review)

Written by Joe Casey 
Art by Simon Gane and Nathan Fox
Published by Image Comics

Years ago, an artist named Chap Yaep created a character called Dutch. This was during the original launch of Image Comics, and it was a time of excess. Dutch was originally part of Team Youngblood and I literally vaguely remember him.

When I heard that writer Joe Casey was going to be writing this book, I had to squint a little, as the character name sounded familiar, but I had to look up who he was. So, once that mystery was solved, I dove right in. It is not a half bad book, but I was a bit confused on why this story needed to be told.
A lot of this book is just action mixed a bit with commentary. The first chapter is probably my favorite as it is drawn by Nathan Fox. Fox is an artist who always makes me sit up. This chapter shows Dutch being the older soldier that he is. Thirty years has passed since his last outing and he is trying to enjoy the simple life. All of that gets lost when a threat from the past rears its ugly head. This chapter was very entertaining as we get to see Dutch outwit his opponent. There is a big cat and mouse game happening here, and Nathan Fox does a hell of a job drawing this up. I liked this chapter and wished that the creative team on this chapter remained the same throughout. Sadly, they do not. That was when the book lost me a little bit and became less compelling.
Simon Gane takes over artistic duties for the remainder of the series. I have never been that hot on Gane. His art just isn’t for me. Luckily, the story is pretty fun and the dialogue by Joe Casey is exceptionally strong. The story is pretty basic for the most part. A retired soldier has to come back for one more job. He is a tough and grizzled soldier, who has a chip on his shoulder and a penchant for ultra violence. We get plenty of action too. There is another layer of fun to all of these proceedings as well.
That particular layer is that we get to see the fragmented parts of Image Comics and its convoluted history. They don’t shy away from it either, and it makes for some entertaining moments. It also stifles the book a little bit, because unless you are familiar with some of those older Image books and characters, you won’t get a lot of the references. You can still enjoy the book, of course, but you’ll be missing that extra layer of storytelling for sure.
As the book goes on, we get some cool action scenes for sure. The character development is really the best part though. Casey really gives this character a personality. Dutch hasn’t really had one before this series so it is a breath of fresh air that is welcome. I enjoyed some of the dark humor too as that comes across pretty well at times.
Eventually, we get to see the villain behind the whole affair. They are a pretty wild villain too. But their story makes sense and it explains why Dutch has to go up against them quite well. By the end of the book, it is set up for possibly more adventures with the character. Honestly though, I could take it or leave it. Not that this book is bad or anything but I felt like the story had run its course for the most part. There doesn’t feel like there is too much left to explore from this point on. While the story is short, it does cover everything that I think I would ever need to know about this character.
For his part, writer Joe Casey has said in interviews that he has a “huge plan” for Dutch. Well, I enjoyed this but there definitely wasn’t much in the way of a grand plan. Maybe further series will prove me wrong? Or maybe there are clues and subtle hints that I am just not seeing? Either way, this was entertaining book that has a sort of fun appeal to all of the proceedings. It is a nice distracting read for about an hour, but don’t look or expect anything deeper than that.

RATING: B