Somebody’s Watching You: Days of Hate #8 Review

Writer: Ales Kot / Artist: Daniel Zezelj / Image Comics Days of Hate #8 is using every trick in the book. There is no up or down, Ales Kot is in control of the vertical and the horizontal. Readers are at his mercy, and the way the plot just twisted tells me he has no mercy at all. The complicated and emotional triangle forming between state accomplice Huian, government hatchet man Agent Freeman, and freedom fighter Amanda gets tighter and changes the landscape of the plot moving forward. In all realness, the issue should really be titled “Agent Freeman is a f—ing savage.” If each of the main characters is a monster in their own right, this dude is the most passive aggressive-slash aggressive-aggressive government agent ever. Everybody gets this work from Freeman: his wife, his mistress, his co-workers…

I absolutely hate this character because I know he exists somewhere in the real world. It isn’t hard to find a white supremacist in the U.S. government and I love that Freeman exists here – it gives the plot ‘real’ stakes. Issue #8 is grounded in the philosophy of the panopticon, the idea that everything is being seen. There is an interaction between Huian and Amanda woven throughout the background of the issue. It doesn’t draw too much attention – but it has a lot of meaning and I won’t spoil it (but know that I want to). Kot uses this as a device to remind us that no matter how ‘good’ something might feel in this book, it’s really bad. Agent Freeman is always keeping tab…