The Loose End
Steven Hollis left for Los Angeles with only a dream of becoming a screenwriter and a friend who wanted to act. Years later, Steven has
a gambling problem, a drinking problem, and an eviction notice for his crummy apartment.
Thankfully, he also still has his friend Diedrich Ryan, who grew into one of the hottest actors in Hollywood. And despite his success and now speaking of himself in the third person, Diedrich has not forgotten the friend from high school who pushed him to apply to Julliard.
When Diedrich gets an invite to the bachelor party of wonderkid producer Benny Blevins, he’s all too happy to bring Steven as his “plus one.” It’s a golden opportunity for Steven to try and sell his screenplays to one of the most powerful players in Hollywood. Unfortunately for Steven, it is also a golden opportunity for crime boss Lucca Burlusconi.
Blevins, in addition to being a noteworthy producer, is also a notorious sexual predator. A gentleman gangster of the old school, Lucca Burlusconi would find this distasteful even if his own daughter were not one of Blevins’ victims. And while even his influence cannot touch Benny Blevins in Los Angeles, there is an unfortunate screenwriter who owes Lucca Burlusconi a lot of money. One who just got invited to a private party at a lavish mansion in Mexico City, where Benny Blevins will be celebrating his upcoming wedding.
Thus does Lucca Burlusconi’s problem of how to avenge his daughter become a problem for Steven Hollis to solve. It is only the start of Steven’s increasingly lengthy list of problems. One that will swiftly grow to accommodate fleeing the scene of a murder, evading a Mexican drug cartel, and somehow getting back to the United States without a passport. Compared to that, selling his screenplays while finding time to kill the man who can make his dream come true will be a cake walk.
Imagine The Hangover rewritten and directed by Quentin Tarantino, and you might wind up with something like The Loose End. There is an edge to Dave Dwonch’s writing that was clearly inspired by the indie heist movie boom of the 1990s. However, Dwonch parodies this aesthetic just as much as he homages it. This is particularly true in the second half of the story, as a group largely consisting of action movie stars enact increasingly outlandish plans they think will work because they saw it in a movie once. Ironically, their plans work just about as often as they do not, with one actor turning out to be an incredibly skilled sharpshooter despite only training in firearms to learn how to stand properly.
The artwork by Travis Hymel mirrors this tone. The style is reminiscent of many indie action comics of the time, and one could almost see this comic being done in black and white. But then we couldn’t have the colors off Geraldo Filho, which punctuates certain panels by rendering them with a single color. That, coupled with a shift between hot and cold colors, creates the feeling of a late 20th century grindhouse heist movie.
The Loose End is rated 15+ by Titan Comics and I consider that a fair ranking. There is considerable violence, drug use, and references to sex and sexual assault. Yet there is no nudity and no on-panel depiction of sexual assault. Surprisingly, there’s also no on-panel disrespect of women more extreme than Benny Blevins slapping the backside of one of the maids at the mansion he rented. Despite this, I would still recommend this one for an adult graphic novel collection, purely because older audiences are more likely to spot the references and tributes hidden throughout the comic.
The Loose End
By Dave Dwonch
Art by Travis Hymel
Titan, 2025
ISBN: 9781787746442
Company Age Rating: 15+
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
