Alan Sirois and his ventriloquist dummy partner Bloomberg find themselves knee deep in corpses as their latest mini races to a conclusion, but if they aren’t careful, they could find themselves amongst the bodies. A rival ventriloquist and his dummy have taken to slaughtering the passengers on the cruise the boys have been sailing upon, and Alan’s girlfriend Teri is now missing. Punishment is certainly on its way… because Alan inevitably takes some, and he’s certainly looking to dish some out.

LOST AT SEA has been a little inconsistent through its four issues, partially because the supporting cast never quite took hold for me, but it does conclude in reasonably satisfactory fashion. Alan shows a bit more in the way of his true gifts as a detective, and Bloomberg suddenly feels a little more relevant when facing the villain(s) of the piece. Also, by removing Teri from the scene for a bit, we don’t have to ask the question of what the hell is wrong with her for sticking with this madman. The only thing that never really works is the art by Eisma; there’s never really a flow to the art, and the body language feels stiff.

As the book concludes, Burns leaves his puzzle pieces in such a place that you feel like he may be done with the characters, though there is certainly room for another sequel. If asked, I’d advise him to think hard about it; there needs to be a damned good story, especially in light of the game-changing events that close out the volume. Sometimes you have to know when to quit while you’re ahead- for DUMMY’S GUIDE, this may be that time.

Marc Mason