Ennis can definitely still write great scenes. The Butcher “losing it” scene in this issue–it takes up the last three or so pages, but feels like a lot more–is amazing Ennis writing.
Strangely, it comes in an otherwise weak issue. There’s a talk between the Boys and the Seven, just a talk, then Hughie going off the deep end on Butcher at a staff dinner. That scene is particularly weak because Ennis’s arc for Hughie this issue is awful. He starts one place then immediately goes another–Ennis writes him angry, sure, but the final place he takes him doesn’t make any sense either.
There’s some more stuff with the evil company, mechanically moving along its subplot. Ennis is solving mysteries no one really cares about at this point. He’s winding down the series and he’s hitting his plot points, nothing else.
But that last scene… truly amazing.
CREDITS
The Big Ride, Conclusion; writer, Garth Ennis; artist, Russ Braun; colorist, Tony Aviña; letterer, Simon Bowland; editor, Joseph Rybandt; publisher, Dynamite Entertainment.
Snif…yep, every once in a while we got a taste of the old Garth…snif