Honestly, when I first cracked the covers on this one, I thought I had the wrong book. Hot girl burglar in a catsuit? Speaking French? Maybe I'd picked up Queen & Country or Catwoman by mistake? But no, this is just the latest twist on Three Days in Europe, which had several big surprises and twists in the second issue and has even more in the third, as Jack and Jill get themselves into even more trouble on their increasingly wacky vacations. Three Days in Europe is, at this point, less romantic comedy and more screwball adventure comedy with a romance backdrop, but whatever subgenre it fits into, I'm finding it highly entertaining.
You have to give Jack a little bit of credit, he does adapt well to his surroundings. He got right into the art scene in Paris, and after he wakes up, he really doesn't even blink at the thought of playing lookout for an art thief. He comes across as perhaps a little dim and unquestioning more than brave, but still, it's kind of fun to see Jack getting himself deeper and deeper into a mess in the name of good sex, and perhaps we begin to see how he got to the stage of his relationship with Jill as a result.
Jill, meanwhile, is not fitting in, and her naivete takes a different form from that of Jack's. While Jack seems pretty cognizant of the true nature of his fling, Jill is convincing herself that hers is something more, and that the guy she's with is something more as well. Ironically, while she's the self-deluded of the two, she's also the smarter one, and it wouldn't surprise me if she somehow plays a large role in getting Jack out of the trouble he finds himself in by the end of the issue.
Hawthorne's artwork continues to look better with each issue, and I'm loving his style, a mix of the animated look, the elongated anatomy that shows up in European work or in artists like Adam Pollina and the clean, simple look of faces that reminds me of Christine Norrie or Andi Watson. Jack in particular is one of the great character designs, although the cat-suited Vivienne is also terrific, and Pascal's look is very distinctive as well. Much of the humor in this book comes directly from Hawthorne's interpretation of Johnston's script.
Once again, we come to the end of an issue of Three Days and I have no idea what's going to happen next. Each issue builds on the last, but also is a great standalone read, and the cliffhangers are a lot of fun as well. Three Days is one of the most fun and unusual romantic comedies you're likely to find, and one of the only stories of its kind you'll find in comics.
